No peace nor rest
by TheOneTrueBear
Summary: They're not stupid. They know there's no peace in revenge. But the sight of Betty and Archie together makes them stupid and whisky makes them weak, so they take the only revenge they can. Set post 2x08 to fix the Barchie coloured future the writers no doubt have in store for us.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N my first Riverdale fic and unbeta-ed as i felt a bit cheeky asking my beloved Karoline beta garglyswoof to edit other fandoms.**

 **Set in a little while after 2x08 after Archie and Betty inevitably get together (because that's where the writers are obviously going, sob!)**

 **Bughead centric fic with hints of Barchie and Vughead (both temporary)**

 **Ooopsy somehow managed to post this initially without the final couple of paragraphs**

It started with a glass of whiskey. Or did it? Maybe it started before that, with a reluctant sigh as she took a seat beside him earlier that evening at Pop's; with his unenthused nod of assent when she'd stood beside the booth and asked tonelessly. "Can I join?"

No, he thinks, the chain of events that led him to this - sitting on the edge of her bed pulling his shirt back over his head and looking anywhere other than at the woman lying behind him - started a week ago. The first time Archie publically put his arm around Betty and he'd seen Veronica's back go stiff for just a second before she'd laughed melodiously at something Kevin had said, her armour of style and scorn drawn tight around her.

He glances back at the bed as he stands, fighting down the building nausea enough to give the shamelessly naked beauty sprawled across it a solemn, regretful, nod. She doesn't nod back, she just turns away to lie on her side, her back elegant and pale, her hair black and sleek against the pillow.

It began, he decides finally as he exits the Pembroke through the back entrance, a week earlier even than that with a characteristic attempt at nobility.

 _"_ _I know it's awkward" Archie had said. "And if it's too weird for you, or for V-"_

 _He'd interrupted Archie's predictable offer to not pursue things with Betty if it would destroy their friendship. Told himself he had no right to jealousy and she every right to happiness._

 _"_ _It's fine man," his assurance had sounded more brittle than he'd hoped and even Archie, oblivious as he so often is, had read his confliction and frowned._

 _"_ _Jug-"_

 _"_ _No honestly, it's fine," he'd sounded surer that time and surer still as he'd continued. "Just treat her right, Ok? Treat her better than I did"_

Yes, that's when it started, when he'd given his blessing to the budding romance between his best friend and the only girl he'd ever cared about.

Then there'd been those few subtle displays of affection between the two that had struck him like a knife in the heart. There'd been those few times in the aftermath his eyes had met Veronica's and he'd seen his own agony reflect back in their darkness.

It had all led to that first glass of whiskey and Veronica's toast when they'd somehow ended up together in her empty penthouse with a bottle of whiskey and a pile of shared misery between him. "To Barchie!"

They'd drunk and she'd poured a second and a third in silence before eventually she'd spoken again. "You know what sucks?" she's asked and without waiting for answer continued. "We're not even allowed to be mad. We have to be ok with it"

"We hurt them first," he hadn't even tried to sound convincing. Knowing how her feelings mirrored his. That same crawl of jealousy in the throat, that same impotent churn of anger and betrayal in the gut.

An hour later and the bottle had been almost gone and he'd listened, with no input offered or required, to Veronica talk their exes' relationship and their reaction too it round and round in circles until she'd finally tucked her legs up under her and turned to face him where he slouched beside her on the sofa. "I know it's mean and petty but I just want-" She'd trailed off with a frustrated sigh, unable to articulate this seething, weeping, anger they live with.

"For them to know how it feels?" he'd asked, knowing the answer, feeling the same answer in every spiteful beat of his broken heart.

"Yeah," shame and relief had rung in the hushed tone of her admission and he'd nodded; he knows those feelings well.

He'd shrugged, agreeing and commiserating in one languid movement. They have no power to inflict this pain on Betty and Archie, even if they were justified in their tawdry desire to do so. "We wouldn't even if we could," he'd told her.

"Wouldn't we?" Veronica had looked at him with dark unreadable eyes that could have been either desperate or venomous. "Couldn't we?"

He'd known of course that he should leave, her intent had been written in the unnatural alcohol brightness of her eyes. In the tilt of her body towards his. She certainly hadn't been thinking straight but then neither had he and the whisky had fed the stupid bitter part of his mind that was whispering that this is how they could take back some shred of control over their foundered hearts.

So, he'd kissed her. Kissed her like he's never kissed anyone before, although his list is admittedly short, he kissed her with a clawing desperate anger. Anger at himself for letting Betty go, at Archie for taking his place so easily, as if it were his friend who'd always been meant to stand at her side. At Veronica for dragging him down this path. At Betty, of course at Betty, for moving on so easily when he thinks he never will. For being what he longs for her to be, happy.

His first time. It should have been her, bright and innocent Betty. They should have broken this barrier together, awkward and unsure, laughing, maybe, breathless, certainly. Probably making a mess of it together.

Instead he had Veronica, worldly and dark, passionate, drunk and vengeful in his arms. He took her without thought, neither knowing nor caring if he got it right, although Veronica's moaning pants were probably a reliable indicator of success. He'd followed her lead, hard kisses that were more teeth than lips and handfuls of silky dark hair in his fist. Her soft flesh bruising on her hips as he'd gripped her while her nails drew blood down the length of his spine.

She'd grunted like an animal in his ear as she came. He imagines that with Archie she never allowed herself to sound so base and the thought had made him hungry for more. To drive her to a place Archie never took her, even if that place is bawdy and licentious.

He'd stilled his body and drawn himself back from the point of following her into release. He'd looked away when her hooded eyes had flutter open questioningly and pulled out of her to spin her around so she'd been on her hands and knees with the admittedly perfect curve of her arse enticing him just more than it had repelled him.

It should have been Betty and whispered words of love. Instead it had been Veronica on all fours cursing and panting as he'd driven them both into drunken disconsolate ecstasy.

tbc

 **Please let me know what you think, no Bughead yet but fear not it is coming**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N I'm a little unclear on american high school year names ages etc. So if season 2 Archie doesn't see the gang in junior year then please forgive my mistake and let me know.**

Veronica spends the next day in the penthouse nursing the mother of all hangovers. Her head throbs and her belly churns so violently that she's barely able to rise from the crumpled bed where she'd screwed her best friend's ex. Her ex's best friend.

The sheets smell of sex and utilitarian scent of his cheap aftershave and part of her wishes she had the strength to change them and take the first step to burying any reminder of the colossal mistake they'd made in the darkest part of the night when sex and revenge had come together in a hazy alcoholic blur.

Another part, a weak spiteful part, wants to stay surrounded by the evidence that she has a secret that would hurt _them_. Betty and Archie have emerged unscathed and hand-in-hand from the wreckage of their previous relationships while she and Jughead are still lying bleeding at the crash site.

But she could hurt them now. She can almost see Betty's huge eyes going wider still with shock and betrayal, the green glistening like sea water with tears. Archie is less easy to predict. Would he swallow down his anger or hurl it at Jughead? She think's he'd supress it at first, maybe let it out in moments of snide weakness that she'd treasure for the power they'd bestow on her.

It's a fantasy her spinning mind lingers on between short spells of deep sleep and the occasional trip to the bathroom to retch out the last of the whisky's poison from her gut. Neither she nor Jughead will ever tell their old lovers what happened between them, their vengeance in the end is as toothless as they're anger.

Last night they traded themselves for the fleeting illusion of not being powerless. This morning they have nothing to show for it but shame, hangovers, and dirty sheets. Tomorrow will be Monday and she'll have to face Archie and Betty at school. She'll be ok, she's been faking her smiles now for weeks, this is just another layer in the charade.

She's glad Jughead's on the Southside. She wants to forget the whole thing and she suspects he does too, but under the leather jacket and the scowl Jughead is a gentleman and she knows he'd feel obliged to say something. Fortunately, by the time they cross paths again they'll no doubt all be together in Pop's playing their given parts.

Bettie and Archie, the perfect couple at the centre of their group while she and Jughead provide the ebony contrast that only makes them glow so much brighter. She'll bring the style and sass, Jughead will bring the biting sardonic wit and all will be normal and right.

"Hey" Betty greets when she gets to school. "You ok V? Feeling better?"

Betty is relaxed and natural with her just as she's been since their conversation a fortnight ago, when Betty'd nervously asked how she'd felt about her getting together with Archie.

"Betty, it's fine, Archie and I aren't an item," she'd even squeezed Betty's hand and smiled with wry humour. "Besides I stole him from you first, this is right of return, or something"

Betty'd laughed and thanked her and she'd smiled affectionately even through her jealously because in spite of everything she loves her friend as much as she ever loved Archie and Betty's friendship means more than simply having someone to rely on. It symbolises the better person she's still determined to become, the person she fell so far short of being when she'd dragged Jughead Jones into her bed.

They make their way together to where Archie and Kevin are waiting near their lockers and the four of them loiter around chatting. She fills any and all silences with her usual banter determined that no moment's awkwardness will arise for the group. In the last two weeks, she thinks she's told more outrageous stories than in the rest of her life combined.

Betty's laughter dies suddenly on her lips and her eyes go wide and rabbitty. Following their friend's gaze the group turns as one to see Jughead Jones prowling down the corridor towards them.

"Betty," Archie whispers urgently but Veronica doesn't think her friend hears him so stricken is she by the sight of her ex in the last place she'd expected to see him.

They're not the only group watching him. The whole corridor goes silent as he passes by, the usual bitches and blowhards silenced by the unmistakable danger in his gaze and the infamous viper that curls across his back. His eyes flash towards them, a curt nod, and then he's gone and the corridor erupts into whispered speculation.

"Betty," Archie tries again. "Betty"

"You ok?" Veronica asks taken aback by the intensity of Betty's reaction to Jughead's unexpected arrival.

"Did you know he was coming back?" Betty asks Archie urgently, her green eyes moving erratically in their sockets. "Do you know why he's back?"

"No"

Slowly the blonde's fists uncurl and she takes an audible breath. "This is good," she says with determination. "He's away from the Southside and the serpents and things can go back to normal."

The bell rings and Betty bolts for class leaving the rest of them to exchange a few worried looks before going their separate ways.

It's Archie that brings her the skinny on Jughead's return when they have a class together just before lunch. Apparently, it's all part of FP's agenda to disentangle his son for the Southside generally and the Serpents particularly and, at least according to Archie, Jughead is 'pretty pissed' about it.

She finds the Serpent leaning indolently against her locker in that brooding disinterested way he's perfected and gives him a hard look. "So, you're back"

"Not by choice" there's a snarl to his voice that makes her think 'pretty pissed' is an understatement.

"Do they know?" he asks without looking at her after a brief pregnant pause.

"No"

He relaxes back against the locker looking relieved. "Veronica, I-"

"Listen," she cuts in, "we both want to forget what happened on Saturday night so consider it forgotten. We will never speak of or think of it again. Not even to satisfy my curiosity about who the hell taught you all-" she loses the thread of her sentence as memories of their night together rise unexpectedly in her mind and her eyes catch on his mouth.

They'd been drunk and angry but there's no denying they'd also been incredibly hot. She'd been surprised by the sureness of his hands on her body and the boldness of his tongue in her mouth not to mention the intensity of the passion with which he'd taken her. He lifts his eyebrows questioningly and runs the nail of his thumb over his own bottom lip which does nothing to distract her from her memories.

Annoyed she makes a stiff waving gesture with one hand to encompass his whole body and every surprisingly pleasurable thing he'd done to her with it. "All that."

His frown is perplexed and she rolls her eyes and moves away. "Totally forgotten" she states unequivocally and turns towards the canteen. "Coming?" she throws over her shoulder as she heads to meet the gang for lunch.

At lunch Betty is disconcertingly positive. Jughead's return is 'great' she repeats enough times to make the object of her grating enthusiasm visibly clench his jaw. "We're all together again," she says with a broad plasticy smile. "Like it's supposed to be"

When they finally head for class she finds herself walking to chemistry with Jughead in awkward silence.

"Well that was exhausting," she says and his genuine, if rueful, laugh breaks the awkward moment.

"How long is Junior year again?" he asks with a wry grin. "I'm not sure I've got the stamina"

She can't help but give him a wicked look at that. "That wasn't my experience," she says before she can stop herself and he gives her a look that only remains annoyed for a few seconds before something bashful hits his eyes and he looks away with a hint of a blush.

She laughs and heads to her place near the front, leaving him to slink to somewhere near the back, and for the first time that day feels something other crushed beneath the weight of Betty and Archie's happiness. Maybe, she thinks glancing back over her shoulder at him pulling a text book from his bag, maybe having him back won't be so bad. Perhaps having someone nearby who's as miserable as she is will somehow make it easier.

 **A/N Next chapter will be Jughead's pov**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Double length chapter this time. Hope you enjoy it**

 **Thanks to those who've reviewed (an elite club you all know you want to join :-)**

 **As usual sadly no beta for this so please allow you reminds to gloss over any and all grammatical errors.**

Jughead's POV

He remains, as he always was, completely out of place in the middle-class complacence of Riverdale High. The only real difference he's noticed in the week since his return is that the darkness that once made him a target now protects him.

Even the worst of the jocks and the bullies, even the likes of Chuck and Reggie, recognise that the leather clad man who stalks the corridors with the same brooding scowl he always wore is not the same one they used to torment. His darkness goes deeper now, to a place they're scared to go. It goes south to seedy bars and shady deals. It rides a motorcycle, carries a flick knife and behind it stands dozens of soldiers each armed with the same nihilistic darkness and the same unwavering loyalty to the brand on his shoulder.

So those who once tormented him avoid him. While those he now wishes to avoid torment him.

"Juggie?" his heart plummets as his new torturer hurries to his side. "Hi," she beams and he has to fight to answer her broad smile with even the smallest upward turn of his lips. She doesn't seem to notice. It's strange, he doesn't remember her being so oblivious.

"Betts" he greets as neutrally as he can muster. "What's up?"

"I was thinking," she clasps her hands together and looks at him excitedly. "You should come back to the paper. The Blue and Gold really needs you voice."

He doesn't think she's being deliberately cruel, but still the cruelty of her offer cuts like a blunt knife in his chest. Why would she ask this of him? Why remind him of how things used to be when it had been them, Betty and Jughead, armed with only their words and their dogged perseverance, taking on the all Riverdale's demons. Back when the town had been falling apart while they were coming together. Back when they were happy.

"I dunno Betts," he tries to sound casually regretful rather than full blown devastated and throws in a negligent shrug to complete the illusion. "I'm not sure I have the time, with my novel an-"

"You always have time to write Juggie," she butts in and the nickname which has always been just hers for him makes him desperate to get away from her and the painful memories of everything he gave up when he pushed her away.

He says the one thing he's sure will make her drop this. "I have other priorities now, Betty"

She swallows, and for a brief second her expression is something other than a perfect mask of happiness and her eyes swim with distress. "The Serpents?" she asks softly.

"Honestly," he looks away briefly and then back to her troubled eyes. "Yes"

She looks poised to turn tail and he's already thinking how hollow a victory it is when her expression shifts again and her hands clamp into tight balls at her side. "That's fine Jug I understand. Just promise me you'll come and hang out down there with me sometimes. I could really use your input now and then, even if you haven't got time to report."

"Bet-"

"I mean we're friends, right?" she interrupts in the way she does when she's not willing to hear a painful truth. "There's no reason not to spend time together"

"Yeah," he says in spite of the _no, no, no_ that's hammering in his brain at the thought of having to be alone with her and not _with_ her. "Sure."

She beams. Giving him, for first time since he came back to Riverdale High, a truly genuine smile that hits her eyes and melts his heart. She's happy, he reminds himself. The hurt he caused her is healed and he should be - no, he is - glad.

Betty reaches forward and squeezes his bicep, her hand lingering long enough for its heat to seep through his shirt and warm his skin. _God Betty,_ he thinks in the moment she touches him. _Please don't let go._

He goes to the Blue and Gold office straight after his last class the next day despite the deafening clanging of warning bells in his head. He goes because Betty asked him to and he's still as incapable of denying her anything as he ever was. He goes because he has missed writing for the paper. But mostly he goes because a small masochistic part of him just wants to be near her.

She's so pleased to see him that he can't help but feel lifted by her enthusiastic greeting, by the way her hand finds his shoulder, lingering again as if she doesn't want to let him go. It's more than stupid to dwell on these brief meaningless moments. It's also traitorous. Archie is his best friend and Betty's first love. To nurture fantasies of a reconciliation with the girl he gave up is a betrayal of both of them and of the happiness they've found in each other. The happiness he practically ordered Archie to give her.

Betty leans over his shoulder as they work and her breath when she asks for his opinion warms his neck. She reaches across him to make little changes and flashes small smiles his way so that his heart hammers almost painfully at her nearness. When he moves to leave, her hand is on his arm again and this time he's bold enough to reciprocate. He turns his hand so his palm is face up, cradling the underside of her forearm while hers grips the bare skin below his elbow.

"Thanks for coming Juggie," she says and he's not sure if he's imagining it but he'd swear her thumb just started turning circles against his skin but he daren't look away from her eyes in case that somehow makes her let him go. "I'll see you tomorrow"

He nods but he doesn't release her and she doesn't let go either. Neither have anything to say, they just stand there in the quiet emptiness of the school holding on to one another and staring into each other's eyes.

"Be-", "Ju-"

Her phone rings, it brash jingle startlingly loud over their hushed voices and they break quickly apart. His heart pounds with guilt and disappointment as she answers with a smile in her voice. "Hey Archie"

Whatever signals he imagined she gave him that evening in the Blue and Gold he quickly realises he misread. In the days that follow she returns to her bright bubbly and slightly distant self and with his return quickly becoming last week's news and the black hood gone their awkward little friendship group settles into a predictable routine of free periods in the student lounge and lunch breaks in the warmth of the canteen. It's not as agonisingly uncomfortable as he'd have imagined, mainly due to Veronica's Oscar worthy acting skills.

If he hadn't possessed first-hand knowledge of the depth of her heartache he'd believe that she's genuinely fine with Betty and Archie being together. She jokes and smiles so convincingly that even he barely notices the cracks across her gaze when the couple indulge in one of the mercifully rare moments of public affection that he knows wrench Veronica's heart as brutally as they do his.

He sometimes feels like a vampire, sucking silently on Veronica's strength like some invisible parasite from a low budget sci-fi movie. He follows her lead, apes her acceptance, and hides in the shadows cast by the burning neon of her performance.

The day he sees her break he feels he can't deny her the right to take some of that strength back from him.

It's pure chance that they're together when they see _them_. Kicked out of chemistry early and heading to the student lounge to find the gang. Instead they find just Betty and Archie alone on the worn sofa, one of her legs hooked over both of his, his hands in her hair as they kiss.

For a few long deafening beats of his heart he just watches them with a feeling of paralysing numbness, then he hears Veronica's barely audible sob and the scuffle of her heels as she flees. She's desperately trying to hold herself together in the corridor when he catches up with her and he knows Veronica well enough to know that a pubic breakdown would be a humiliation she couldn't bear. So, he grabs her arm and drags her, unnoticed, into the cupboard under the stairs that he'd once called home and has kept as a bolt hole ever since.

"Shit," she's uncharacteristically crass as she pulls a tissue from her handbag and dabs at her heavily made up eyes. "I've never seen them like that. It just-fuck"

"Hey," he rubs her arm in a clumsy attempt at comfort and she bites down hard on her claret painted lips. He understands her distress. It's only today, catching Betty and Archie unawares, that they understand how much of their intimacy the couple have been hiding from them. The lip-locked truth is difficult to accept.

Veronica's eyes when they meet his are full of salt water and a pain and he realises that at this moment the well of strength he'd thought inexhaustible has run dry. She holds his gaze for a split second and then she comes at him with grasping hands and hungry lips and he doesn't hesitate in offering up some of the strength he's leeched from her in the only way she'll allow.

She fumbles with his belt and he pushes up her skirt and takes her down in one smooth movement to the dusty sheetless mattress that still lies against the wall. He peppers kisses on her face to taste the salt of her tears and drink in the physical evidence of what he already knows. That she and he are mirrored hearts broken down exactly the same fault line.

Afterwards as they straighten the clothes they hadn't bothered to remove and Veronica finger combs out her tangled hair she tells him they shouldn't do this again. "Absolutely" he says in heartfelt agreement.

Their second tryst was, in its own hurried and vulgar way, just as good as their first. He may have no frame of reference but he's aware that they do have great sex. He can tell from the way her body writhes beneath his and how she keens in her throat as she spasms around him. He can tell from the way his own skin burns at her touch and the lack of control he has over the surge of his hips as she begins to fall apart with his name muffled by the clamp of his hand over her mouth.

Its great sex and it leaves them both hollowed out and empty. Its comfort last no longer than the moments, lost in their own pleasure and each other's, that they can forget how they each turned their real happiness away. Traded it for the cold safety of walls they have both built around their hearts.

Their resolution last only three more days before they're screwing in the cupboard under the stairs again. This time with her above him, her hands pressed painfully against his bruised ribs as she rides him, the pain and pleasure she offers driving out the self-loathing that had settled in his stomach after the row he'd had earlier with Betty Cooper.

Betty had been alone at her locker when he'd slunk, late, into school that morning with purple painted on his cheekbone and his lips swollen and split.

"Oh my God Juggie," her concern had come in a genuine rush and she'd been instantly at his side, fingers reaching gently for his wounds. "What happened? You're hurt"

"I'm fine," he'd said and the movement had forced fresh blood from the split in his tender lips.

"You're not fine," she'd told him with uncompromising compassion. "Come with me"

She'd dragged him to the disabled bathroom and locked the door.

"Betty I'm fine," he'd insisted but she'd ignored him and he'd leant him back against the sink as she'd busied herself dampening a tissue so she could clean the blood from his mouth.

Her hands had lingered tenderly on his face and her eyes had been deep emerald wells of almost unbearable concern. "What happened Jug?" she'd whispered, and then more strongly. "And do not tell me you fell of your bike"

"We got rid of Penny. Finally. Me and the younger Serpents took on her thugs and dumped her out in Greendale."

"My God Jug what were you thinking? You could have been really hurt." Her hands had moved as she'd spoken to run over his arms and back up and down his chest checking lightly for damage and finding it in his wince as she'd brushed his ribs.

She'd tried to lift his t-shirt but he'd stopped her, taking both her hands in his. "I'm ok."

Her eyes had bored into his, searching and doubtful. "Is Penny? Did you do something to her? Did you hurt her?"

He hadn't been able to answer, the feeling of Penny's skin slicing below the razor-sharp blade of his flick knife too vivid in his memory.

The tacit admission had brought tears to Betty's eyes and she'd shaken her head in disappointment. "Jug"

"She'll live," he'd defended himself lowly. "She's gone and my dad and the rest of the Serpents are safe"

"Is this what you joined them for Jug?" he'd tried to look away but she'd grabbed his bruised face gently and held his gaze. "How long till you're mixed up in something you don't walk away from, or someone else doesn't? Is this want you want? Because that's what being with the Serpents means"

"They're all I have," his voice had been little more than a hoarse croak and she'd shaken her head the water in her eyes catching the light and making his own eyes fill in response.

"You had me Jughead, and Archie and Mr Andrews. What do they give you we couldn't?" her expression had broken his heart, she'd looked so unsure, so very, very, sad. "That I couldn't?"

He hadn't had an answer, all the ones he'd been able to bring to mind, he'd known she could counter she'd offered too.

"Tell me" she'd pressed and the answer had come through his brain and out of his mouth before he'd been able to assess the wisdom of sharing it.

"Permanence," he'd said simply. "They'll always be there for me"

She'd looked unbearable hurt then as she'd bitten her lower lip. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He'd known he should leave it and walk away. But the truth is that he's hurt and hurt people make bad decisions when it comes to keeping their mouths shut. "It means I'll always have a place with them, no matter what better alternatives come along"

Anger had hit her eyes at the implication and her mouth had tightened. "You mean Archie?"

He hadn't answered and his silence had been affirmation enough. She'd shaken her head and glared at him with simmering eyes. "You don't get to do that Jughead. You broke _my_ heart remember? When you pushed me out and chose the Serpents; I had every right to move on"

"And long did it take you?" he'd bitten back venomous as the snake he is. "A week, two?"

"That's not the point."

"No, it's exactly the point Betty." He'd spat. "It's the point that you and Archie were just there waiting and ready for each other. It's the point that you got together fast enough to prove that Veronica and I were exactly what we'd always thought we were"

"And what the hell is that?" she'd pushed back with forced restraint in her voice.

"Placeholders," her eyes had flared with anger then but he'd been unable to stop himself, weeks of suffering her and Archie's perfectly fated happiness fuelling an uncontrolled outpouring of bitterness. "Just someone to occupy you till your fairy-tale prince finally came around. A charity case to take your mind off Archie while he tired every other girl in Riverdale on for size."

He'd stopped then regretful of his own cruelty as a tear had finally broken the flooded banks of her eyes. "Betty I'm sorry I didn't mean that."

She'd nodded slowly and swallowed. "Is that really what you think?" she'd asked softly.

"What? No!," he'd reached for her but she'd stepped out of reach leaving his hands to fall back dejectedly to his sides. "I'm sorry, I was just being a dick. Archie loves you"

"That's not what I meant," she'd sighed and he'd had the distinct feeling she was disappointed in him somehow. "Your right," she'd said eventually in a voice that at once sounded both determined and resigned. "Archie does love me. I should go find him"

He'd avoided the gang all day until in a final free period Veronica had found him sitting outside in the cold near the bins picking his nails with the point of his knife.

"Hey there Heathcliff," she'd given the concrete beside him an appraising look before reluctantly sitting beside him. "Going to tell me what happened?"

He'd merely rolled his eyes and looked away so she'd huffed impatiently and kicked at his shin in annoyance. "Hey, while you've been lurking out here like Erik Destler I've endured a full day of watching Betty go deep Stepford. She's been touching Archie constantly and I'm genuinely concerned she's smiling so hard her face will break. So, spill, what the hell happened?"

"We had a fight." He'd answered dejectedly.

"About your face?"

"Initially," he'd shrugged half-heartedly. "I may have said some pretty shitty things about her and Archie. Not my finest hour to be honest"

She'd watched him for a few long moments before she'd stood and held out her hand to haul him to his feet and lead him to the cupboard under the stairs. "We were going to stop" he'd reminded her halfheartedly as he'd pulled her hair aside and kissed her neck.

"And we will," she'd tilted her head and buried her fingers in his hair. "Just not today."

So here he is, with his ribs screaming in pain and his broken lips stinging from the kisses she'd laid on them with no more gentleness than she usually showed, looking up at her as she rides him. Her open blouse and unclasped bra exposes the vigorous bouncing of her perfect breasts and her toned thighs work to bounce her up and down as chases her orgasm and lures him towards his. He stills her with a firm grip on her hips, he's not ready to be done with her just yet. Not ready to face the awful settle of reality that always follows their release.

He flips them so he's above her and sets a deep, excruciatingly slow, rhythm that makes her whine in protest. "Jughead," she hisses but he ignores her and kisses the protest off her lips, the faint taste of his own blood mingling in their mouths.

Slowly her pleasure starts to build again as he angles himself to grind against her clit and when she tears her mouth away from his again it's to let out a litany of gasping pleas. He likes the way his name sounds when she's begging him to make her come. He likes how different it sounds to how Betty had said it - with so much anger and disappointment - that morning. So, he teases the raven-haired vixen below him until she's swearing at him and the insistent thrusting of her hips against his break his control and he hooks her leg over his shoulder and drives into her until he has to kiss her hard to muffle the building squeals of pleasure escaping her mouth.

They dress quickly in the oppressive silence that follows and neither offers a farewell as they slip out of the door and head away in different directions. Both so lost in their own thoughts that neither notice the vibrant flash of long read hair disappearing up the stairs behind them.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Cheryl's in the mode for chaos :-) Thanks for the reviews they are the wind beneath my typing fingers**

The morning after her latest indiscretion with Jughead Jones Veronica finds herself dabbing concealer on a love bite over her collar bone and promising herself for the hundredth time since she woke up that she will definitely not be doing it again.

Once was a drunken mistake. Twice could be called a fluke. Three times was beginning to look worryingly like a pattern. A desperate, self-destructive cycle of great sex, followed by crushing regret, followed by shared misery and back around to great sex again. A cycle that she's all too aware could easily become a crutch for both of them.

If it were any other guy in town she'd just go with it. The sex is bordering on mind-blowing after all and its depressing how badly in need of a fuck-buddy she is recently. But not Jughead no matter how fond she's becoming of him. Betty is her best friend and despite that the blonde has moved on with unseemly swiftness to her own ex, Veronica doesn't think the revelation that she's been secretly screwing Jughead on school property would be met with an outpouring of well wishes from her friend.

At school Betty is conspicuously absent from homeroom and Veronica spends a good ten minutes wandering the corridors before she finds her friend sitting in the girl's locker room looking pensive. "Hey. There you are," she gives Betty a light shove on the shoulder. "You ok?"

Betty turns to her with a small distracted frown. "Hey V."

She lifts an eyebrow at the preoccupied response and sits down. "Ok B what's up? Tell auntie Veronica"

The Blonde's frown morphs into a tiny rueful smile. "I'm not sure you want to hear about this."

She nods her understanding. "Ah, what's Archiekins done? I'm small but I'm feisty and no one gets away with putting that sad look on my girl's face"

Betty laughs and the look of pure affection in those big green eyes makes her feel even more guilty for what she's been doing behind her friend's back. "No V, Archie hasn't done anything. It's just-" she stops herself and sighs. "Seriously Veronica you won't want to hear about this."

"Pft! No guy gets between us remember. I am here for you, B. Whatever it is you can tell me, I promise"

Betty looks doubtful but she can tell that the other girl is desperate to share so she nods encouragingly and waits for an explanation.

"Ok, but I warned you," Betty takes a deep breath. "I slept over with Archie last night, and we," the blush that rises on Betty's pale skin is bright and adorable even if the image of Archie with anyone else is an agony she has to fight to keep from showing on her face. "You know"

"Oh wow! You go girl" she tries to sound like a teenager hearing about her bestie's first time and not like a jealous ex. "Now, why the glum face? Was it bad? Don't tell me Archie failed to satisfy."

Betty sighs and studies the pale pink polish on her nails. "It was, I dunno, I'm not sure I did it for the right reasons and it was fine but I-," the blonde checks her rambling, takes a steadying breath and starts again. "It was everything I ever dreamed it would be," she says with a distant look seeping onto her face. "It was music and candles round the bed and it was Archie"

"But?" Veronica prompts gently when Betty falls into contemplative silence.

"It was everything I ever wanted and all I could think about was how I wished it was on a counter top in a ratty old trailer on the Southside." A tear rolls down Betty's pale cheek and she delicately wipes it away with her fingertips.

Betty's admission knocks the wind from Veronica's chest and she takes advantage of the lighter girl's distraction to get control of the tumbling swirl of guilt and anger enough to make the proper response. "With Jughead?" she asks rhetorically. "Do you still have feelings for him"

Betty stands suddenly and sets to pacing the floor as she struggles to articulate her feelings. "I love Archie," she states and Veronica knows it's absolutely true. "I do, and I am trying _so_ hard, but I can't turn it off. I can't even trust myself to be alone with Jughead. He came to the Blue and Gold last week and I just could not stop myself from touching him."

"Betty"

"I only went to Archie's at all last night because jug and I had this awful row and I really wanted to prove to myself that I'm over him." Betty makes a visible effort to uncurl her fists and lays the flat palms against her thighs. "You must think I'm a terrible person"

"No," she retorts hotly, because even right now when she's struggling to control the anger she feels at losing Archie to a girl that may not even want him she knows her friend is one of the best people she ever met. "Never"

"I lost my virginity to my first love last night. He did everything he could to make it special and I thought about Jughead the whole time. Who does that?" Betty ceases the frenetic pacing that had been starting to make Veronica feel nauseous to watch and turns to her with wide searching eyes. "What is wrong with me? Why can't I stop thinking about him, why can't I just turn it off"

She gives her the blonde a sympathetic look. "There's no off switch for this Betty you know that"

"What I _know_ is that Juggie doesn't want me and no matter how hard I try to stop I still want him," Betty bites her lip and looks so troubled her heart aches for her friend. "I still want him so much, in every way"

"B-" Veronica's words are cut off by the bell and she glances pointlessly at her watch. "We have to get to class, but you listen to me. You are not a terrible person, ok, you're just navigating some troubled waters right now. We'll figure it out I promise"

Betty's nod is unconvinced and Veronica gives her a chiding look. "Hey I said we've got this. It'll be ok"

As she walks away from her distressed friend the thought that this couldn't be further from ok fills her head. She'd suspected there where aspects of Betty and Archie's relationship that bordered on theatre but the depth of Betty's misgivings startles her. Her love for Jughead is far from dead, it burns as strong as ever beneath the blonde's veneer of cheerleader smiles and sweet kisses with the quarterback.

She's grateful that at least she found out about Betty's feelings before this fling with the Serpent turned into the kind of semi-permanent arrangement that would have eventually got them caught. She feels like she's dodged a bullet, the affair safely locked in the secret past, her guilt a silent prisoner in her own chest.

But that guilt only builds as the day progresses. In history, she sits across from Jughead and when he removes his jacket the muscles in his arm flex in just the same way they had when he'd trapped both her hands above her head the night before as he's pressed her up against the wall of their closet and asked her, right next to her ear in a voice that was hoarse with lust, if she'd wanted him to fuck her.

The memory of how she'd nodded urgently is vivid and her eyes travel from his arm to his mouth. "Say it," he'd insisted and his free hand had moved between their bodies to press her through her wet panties. "Tell me"

And tell him she had, in graphic detail that had made him groan with desire and push aside her La Perla's to explore her almost embarrassingly wet pussy with bold deft fingers.

The teacher is speaking and she drags her eyes away from where her gaze has settled on his hand as he twirls his pen distractedly. She curses inwardly. Betty's confession may have strengthened her resolve not to be with Jughead again but has done nothing to dampen the desire for him that's been building steadily since that first drunken kiss.

They have a free period after History and as the class begins to disperse he caches her eye, and with a lift of his eyebrows and a flick of his head in the general direction what she's worryingly beginning to consider 'their' closet, makes a tacit offer she knows any other day she'd have been all too keen to accept. Her body takes one unsanctioned step towards him before she gets a hold of herself, shakes her head decisively and strides out with far more determination than she feels.

The atmosphere when they gather for lunch is tense enough that Jughead gives her a questioning look from his usual place lurking just this side of the outskirts of the group, while Betty can only muster a wan smile for Archie as she takes her place beside him and opens her lunch as he looks worriedly at the blonde.

Usually this is where she steps up; Veronica Lodge, the girl with all the stories. But today Betty's confession and her own clawing guilt occupy her mind to the point where she can't think of a single thing to say to break the awkward silence.

"Fabulous. I've been hoping to catch the gang all together," a bright voice chimes behind her. "I have the most amazing news to share"

The redhead bombshell's intrusion is a welcome break in the awkward atmosphere around them, so for once Veronica resists making any biting comment as Cheryl perches on the edge of their table, mirroring Jughead's position on the other side of the group. "So," she begins conspiratorially. "You will never believe what Ginger heard a few days ago when she was heading to Wetherbee's office in third period."

"What?" Kevin perks up at the whiff of gossip.

Cheryl leans closer and whispers in a scandalised voice. "She swears she heard someone doing _it_ in that closet under the stairs. You know the one that's always locked."

Her heart takes off like a Jack Rabbit and she glances up to see Archie looking at a visibly tense Jughead with a questioning frown. "Seriously Cheryl. No one here cares," Archie comes to his friend's aid and she sees this moment in slow motion, as the moment they still all have each other's backs before the truth finally shatters their illusion of unity.

"I care," Kevin sits forward looking excited. "Did she say who it was?"

Cheryl's smile is gleefully malicious. "She didn't know," she tells the group clearly savouring this moment of power. "But fortunately, _I_ am not above pressing my ear to a door for a good piece of gossip"

"Leave it Cheryl" Jughead growls threateningly but the redheaded bombshell isn't that easily intimidated.

She tosses her glossy hair and gives the Serpent a sexy smile. "You are truly a dark horse Forsythe. Honestly if what I heard yesterday is anything to go by." She makes a show of fanning herself. "Wow!"

"Jug?" Betty's voice is so soft it's barely audible but the pain in it still blares across Veronica's mind like a siren.

"Cheryl, let it go," Veronica demands. "Now."

Cheryl turns to her with an innocent, wide-eyed, expression. "Say please V," she smirks victoriously. "You certainly had no problem saying it over and over yesterday. Strange, I never had Veronica Lodge down as the type to beg"

In the corner of her eye she sees Jughead close his eyes in defeat. Opposite her Betty looks like she's been punched in the gut and Archie's baffled expression is quickly darkening with anger and understanding.

Cheryl laughs musically, clearly pleased with the maelstrom she'd caused. "You know secrets are poison," she intones seriously as she hops off the table and turns to leave. "You're welcome"

The silence that follows is long and tense. Jughead doesn't open his eyes and Archie stares at him, tensions coiling in the redhead's muscles. Opposite her Betty's eyes are locked on her face and Kevin looks around the group with darting nervous eyes.

"Guys?" He questions eventually and the sound seems to free Archie from a temporary paralysis.

"You slept with Ronnie?" he demands in a low dangerous voice and Jughead opens his eyes and gives his friend a pleading regretful look.

"Archie, man I-"

"Did you?" Archie insists darkly.

Jughead looks decidedly nauseous as he tries to placate his friend. "It's not like you th-"

"Did you fuck her?" Archie barks, not loudly but harshly enough to force a straight answer.

"Yes"

"What the hell?" Archie stands suddenly and Jughead mirrors the action so the table is between them. "Why the hell would you do that?" Archie spits. "Why her?"

Jughead's apologetic expression shifts with a sudden flare of defensive anger. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I break some sort of bro code about exes?" he glances pointedly at Betty but the blonde's eyes are still boring into the side of Veronica's face, she can feel their intensity against her skull as she watches Jughead defend them.

"You lied," Archie counters. "Both of you," he looks briefly at her as he draws her into his reproach. "You went behind our backs"

"You didn't need to know," Jughead emphasises each word with a stab of finger into his own palm. "It didn't mean anything."

"And you think that makes it better?"

"I dunno man, I didn't think at all." Jughead's anger drains away and he looks remorseful again. "I'm sorry, ok. It just happened"

The two men fall silent and in the pause Betty finally speaks. "How could you?" she asks quietly and Veronica has no choice but finally meet the hard, accusing, emerald of her eyes. "How could you do that to me V. You knew. You knew how I-"

"Betty, it was before. I swear, I haven't been with him since we talked"

Betty stands quickly, the movement accompanied by the screech of her chair over the polished floor, and glares down at her. "Oh wow, so you haven't screwed my boyfriend since homeroom. Congratulations Veronica, friend of the year."

The injustice of Betty's words not just to her but to Jughead and Archie is enough to override her guilt and she fires back harshly. "He's not your boyfriend Betty"

"No," Betty takes a deep calming breath and holds her gaze. "But he is Jughead, and you knew what that means." Then she's gone, striding away from the shattered group with long purposeful strides that somehow fail to bring the usual bounce to her bright ponytail.

"Shit," Veronica hisses under her breath and finally risks a look at Archie, who looks like his world just blew up in his face. She guesses it actually did. "I better go find her" she goes after Betty leaving the three men staring silently after her.

She finds Betty sitting alone on the bleachers seemingly unconcerned by the freezing wind that whistles across the playing field. "Hey," she greets cautiously and sits down a few feet away.

Betty doesn't answer, so she pulls her coat tight around her and waits. Eventually the blonde speaks in a quiet even voice. "If you just wanted meaningless sex you could have had it with literally anyone in Riverdale V. So why did it have to be him?"

"Kindred spirits I guess. It felt good to be with someone who got it, who was as miserable as I was." She sighs knowing there's no excuse but giving one anyway. "Also, Whiskey. The first time anyway"

"First time? How many- no don't answer that, just-" Betty stops herself and finally turns her ocean coloured gaze on her friend. "Do you love him? Does he love you?"

"What? No. Betty, no and no, absolutely not," she spots a chip in her nail polish and rubs at it with the pad of her thumb. "Look we'd both lost everything and we had no one to blame but ourselves. So, we'd hook up and for a little while we could forget how badly we'd screwed things up. That's all it was."

"Is it over?"

"Yes, God, of course," she insists but even as she does the memory of stepping towards him earlier that day, of the magnetic pull of his body, rises and something of that conflict must colour her voice because Betty's brow furrows with doubt. "If I'd known you still had feelings for him," she continues more strongly. "I never would have done it. I swear"

Betty stands and looks at her with cold sceptical eyes, then she goes leaving her to look out despondently over the empty playing field with the horrible feeling that she's lost all her friends today and the dishonourable desire to find Jughead Jones and fuck away this anguish in the dusty discomfort of their not so secret sanctuary under the stairs.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N thanks so much for the reviews. I had a request for some other POVs and it inspired me to try out Archie for this chapter. Not too long and unbeta-ed so i apologies of typos and any shifty grammar.**

 **No V in this one but the Jeronica (vughead? which is it) shippers are after one last steamy scene for our raven haired lovers so the next chapter might contain a bit of Jeronica smut before we continue with the story (and when i say might I mean it does, it definitely does)**

"You want to hit me dude?" Jughead ask with no hint of humour when the silence following Veronica and Betty's departure becomes unbearable.

He glances at the dark-haired man's already battered face and sighs. "Not really"

"Arch, I'm-"

"Stop Jug," he cuts off another sad eyed apology from his old friend. "I don't even know If I'm mad at you. No" he corrects himself, all too aware of the sour bile-like taste in his mouth and the churn in his stomach. "I am definitely mad at you, I'm just not sure if I'm allowed to be"

"You are," Jughead assures him penitently. "We shouldn't have lied. But it was never meant to be a thing, it was just- "

"Sex?" an image of Jughead and Veronica together with their matching hair and contrasting skin assaults him and he thinks that maybe he does want to hit Jughead after all.

"Escapism. But, yeah sex I guess. Veronica and I felt the same. Miserable and stuck that way," he pauses and scratches his head through his beanie. "Doing, _that_ , was an illusion of freedom, that's all"

The questions he wants to asks are all the pointless clichés of the cuckold he can't even claim to be. _How many times? Where? Was it good?_ Instead he bites his tongue and in the silence another apology tumbles from Jughead's mouth

"Jesus stop saying you're fucking sorry man" he snarls and Jughead recoils visibly from the force of his anger and clamps down on yet another apology. "It's pretty moot when you screwed Veronica behind my back and Betty just called _you_ her boyfriend," jealousy burns so hotly in his veins he can't accurately discern its primary source.

Cheryl's spiteful words circle in his brain "one to beg" that's what Cheryl had called his ex. The Veronica he knew had always commanded their lovemaking with a passionate self-assurance, taking her pleasure with a knowing smile and a wicked laugh, always in control. His mind can't picture her – and yet won't stop trying to picture her – spread beneath his friend so lost in sensation that she would beg him, plead for him, to complete her.

The visceral images almost completely eclipse the heart deep pain of Betty's careless words. In the heat of her anger and betrayal she'd called Jughead her boyfriend, she'd looked at Veronica not with the confused and conflicted jealousy with which he now regards Jughead but with an anger of white hot intensity. He knows he's an oblivious fool more often than not, but even he can weigh the significance of that.

He's knows he's lost Betty, or more accurately he never had her, and that loss fills him not with the jealousy he'd felt when she'd first chosen Jughead but with a sense of resigned grief as he comes to realise that his 'someday' with Betty was truly just a childish fantasy they once shared. A fantasy she has slain and now he must bury alone.

With a prohibition on apologising Jughead doesn't have any response to that other than to watch the floor and chew the nail of his thumb.

If he looks past his own anger he can see that Jughead hasn't really done much wrong. Veronica is a free agent and Jughead can't really be held responsible for Betty's feelings. So, while he's hurt and angry and so jealous he wants to put his fist through something, he's aware that that something really shouldn't be his best friend's face.

"Archie, I'm-"

"Just leave it ok, Jug" he snaps and Jughead nods dejectedly, his lips pressed together in an attempt to supress his emotions and Archie feels himself begin to relent. "Just give me time alright?" he says more softly. Then he goes with no idea where he's headed – though definitely not to English Lit class – leaving his friend and all his certainties behind.

He spends a while pacing the halls before he turns a corner opposite the gym and feels himself slam into an invisible wall. A little further down the corridor Betty stands opposite Jughead, her arms wrapped around her own waist like a shield.

"I can't do this Jughead" she says firmly and he draws back a little so he can watch them without being seen. The need to know what they're saying more powerful than any half-remembered regard for privacy.

"Betty, please" Jughead steps toward Betty, his hand lifting to reach for her but she steps back and lifts both hands defensively.

"No," her voice is shrill and panicked. "I said I can't. I have to find Archie."

He slips away, not ready to face her. More terrified than curious about what she will say when they finally talk. He blows off the rest of the school day, lurks in his room with the curtains drawn and his phone off, playing video games and stubbornly not thinking about the two women he loves in such very different ways or the man he calls his brother.

Eventually Betty comes to him with big troubled eyes. "Hey Arch," she greets timidly and he wants to turn her away and exists a little while longer in a world where his best friend hasn't inadvertently stolen everything from him.

"Betty," he steps out of the house because his dad is in and he doesn't want to deal with losing his girlfriend and his father's concern about it in one day.

"We need to talk," she states obviously as they settle on the porch and he nods.

They fall silent but there's really only one place to start so finally he gathers and courage and names the pain between them. "You called him your boyfriend" he says in a tone far less accusatory than he'd expected.

"I know," she whispers. Really, he'd have imagined she'd have thought about what she was going to say before she came over but she seems totally unprepared. "I'm sorry, I-" she trails off and closes her eyes.

"Did you ever-" he swallows and looks at her. "Was this ever real?"

"Yes," she's suddenly animated, she leans forward and grasps his hand. "Yes. I love you Archie, I do."

He takes a deep breath and feels it shudder painfully through his chest. He can't think of anything to say to that so he draws back his hand from her grip, stays quiet, and waits for her to speak again.

"I'm sorry, Archie. I tried, I tried so hard, but-" she looks so agonised that the part of him that's loved her since kindergarten longs to comfort even if he feels like she's trampled on his heart.

"It's not supposed to be hard Betts" he says in defeat and she swallows and nods tears brimming in her eyes.

"I know, I know, I'm so sorry," she doesn't look at him, she studies her own hands. "He broke my heart Arch. He hurt me so much, I needed to believe I could get over him and I've loved you for so long, I thought I could do that with you."

He feels used and betrayed but he feels her love too, flowing back over the years they've been friends and forward to into a future he can't imagine not containing her. "I get it" he says in the end, because he does, he ran from the pain of losing Veronica as surely as she ran from her own broken heart.

But he falls in love easy and she falls in love hard. In just one school year he's loved four women while in her whole life she's loved only two men. With the brutal clarity of hindsight, he sees that he should have realised she couldn't move on so fast from loving Jughead.

He wants to hold her to account for her dishonest heart but she's Betty Cooper and she's loved him through the hardest times in his life without asking for anything in return. Now she's the one with a shattered heart and he owes her better than his condemnation.

"It's not ok Betty," he tells her and she bites her lip and cries fat silent tears that pull at his loyal heart. "But it will be. Eventually. I mean, it's not like breaking up is going to stop us being friends. At least not forever"

The gratitude on her face, the love and relief in her eyes strengthen the part of him that wants to be mature and gracious about this and he finds he can silence the lesser man who wants to lash out until she hurts as much as he does.

When she chokes his name through her tears he takes her in his arms and they bury their faces into each other's necks and he feels her tears against his skin. "It's alright Betty, we'll work it out"

Eventually she pulls away and looks at him. "And you and Jughead? It's not his fault, he loves you and he needs you"

Perhaps her need to protect the man that still holds her heart should re-ignite his jealousy and his anger. But he has always shared that same yearning to protect Jughead from the unrelenting river of shit that has always flowed through his distinctly uncharmed life and he finds it's not so hard so give her the answer she wants. "We'll work it out too"

She's nods gratefully and pulls him into another hug. "I love you" she says and he squeezes her to him and to his surpise replying in kind doesn't hurt as much as he'd have expected.

When the pull apart he turns her previous question around on her. "What about you and Jughead?"

She squares her shoulders and sets her face into a paper-thin mask of composure under which he can clearly see the breaking of her heart. "There is no me and Jughead"

"Oh Betty," he pulls her close again while somewhere in the darkness a night jar calls out harshly and the drone of a motorcycle's engine recedes into the night.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Thank you all so much for the reviews. A blast of Jeronica here before we finally address Bughead.**

 **Between writing this and reading the reviews I think i may be converting to a Jeronica shipper and am already planning out a sequel to this that might revisit their relationship**

 **N.B this chapter is rated M so if you are a bit younger you can skip it, summary at the bottom (honestly it's mostly smut though :-)**

"Jughead?" she's shocked to see him at her door after the revelations of the day. Yet here he is, leaning against the door frame with a little more James Dean to his brooding posture than she feels equipped to handle.

He looks at his own feet and the pain he's in seems to radiate from him and chill her skin. "Rough day?" she asks just to try and get one of those small wry smiles of his but he just lifts his desolate gaze to hers.

"Can I come in? I need a drink"

"I'm not sure that's a great idea," she tells him regretfully and he frowns looking genuinely perplexed.

"Why not?"

"Excuse me, did you not witness the today's total friend-mageddon?" she huffs, impatient to be rid of him before she does something stupid. "So, if you want to follow in your daddy's dipsomaniac footsteps you can do it without my daddy's thirty-year-old scotch"

"Your folks still out of town?" he asks as he lazily pushes off the doorframe and steps into the room.

"Sure, come on in." she mumbles sarcastically but she fetches the scotch anyway and pours two shots that neither of them drink.

"Did you talk to Betty?" she asks, wondering if her friend has finally come clean about her feelings. Although logic tells her that if she had Jughed wouldn't be here looking so broken at her door.

"She didn't want to talk to me," he runs a hand over his face. "Archie may forgive me though, so that's something"

She nods, glad the two men are making a better job of reconciling than she and Betty. "Good"

"You talk to Betty?" he rubs his eye with his knuckle like a tired child and she feels a swell of warmth for him rising in her chest.

"Not really, she's so pissed at me right now she wasn't exactly keen on hearing my side"

"What do you know?" he asks after a long pause and she shakes her head questioningly. "Betty said you knew something" he explains with a sigh as if he's exasperated by his own need to ask.

"Oh that," she looks around the room just to have a moment to gather herself before she answers him. "Before Cheryl's triumphantly gleeful expose Betty and I had talked. About you actually and how she still has feelings for you. I half thought you guys would be back together by now"

"Hardly. I've just come from Archie's" Jughead says. "Went to apologise some more and arrived just in time to hear Betty telling Archie that she and I are nothing. That and a heartfelt exchange of 'I love you's. So, if you're hoping to get Archie back by default you're out of luck"

Had she? She wonders. Had she pinned her hopes of reconciliation with Archie on Jughead's ability to win back Betty. It's fairly pathetic if she had but deep down she suspects that that's exactly what she thought when Betty confessed to still wanting her ex.

Disappointment drags at her heart. "I wasn't" she denies weakly and he scoffs.

"Right, you weren't hoping Betty and Archie'd split and he'd be so jealous that I screwed you he'd want you back?"

She wants to deny it but the truth of it steals her voice and he, hurt as he is, seems unable to stop himself from lashing out. Though whether his bile is meant for her or for himself she's unsure, either way his next outpouring of spite cuts deep because it's so miserably true.

"Face it Veronica, this is how it was always going to end." He snarls. "You and I, we're disposable. Sure, I'm scum everyone knows that, me most of all. But you. You thought you mattered. Rich, beautiful, clever, Veronica, you thought you could mean something. Turns out you're as easy to cast aside as some trailer park trash son of a drunk."

She swallows down the rising pain of this hurtful words and focuses on him rather than on her own arrogant naivety. "You're not trash, and I'm-"

"Yes, I am!" he cuts in emphasising each word, his eyes flashing with anger and bitterness. "And you're a trinket. A bauble, diverting for a while but ultimately valueless. At least to Archie"

She bites her lip and immediately he's full of regret. "I'm sorry, V, I didn't mean-"

"Yes, you did," she tries to take a deep calming breath but the way it shudders in her lungs just underscores how much her heart hurts right now. Weeks of pretending to be fine, of telling herself that she's over Archie have worn her last nerve. Sex with Jughead has fried her common sense and with all her emotions frayed she's wide open to the cut of Jughead's devastating reality check.

To the she's the sexy girl, the party girl, she's everything she thought she'd turned her back on when she left New York and all the work she's done here has been for nothing. Archie had declared a love that went no deeper than their skin, he hadn't stuck by her for a single day after she couldn't form the words to tell him just how deeply under her skin she felt that love. Instead he'd run straight to his happily ever after with the incomparably lovable Betty without glancing back once.

She doesn't fight the tears. Hiding them from Jughead feels unnecessary no matter how weak she looks or how her makeup runs and smudges. He tilts his head and contemplates her in that way of his that is at once intense and strangely detached and she looks back at him, waiting, just holding still, until he speaks.

"You are stunning when you cry," he observes with understated emotion and apology in his quiet voice. "So completely human"

He takes a step towards her and body trembles with resentment at what he's brought her to but also with anticipation. The murky blue of his eyes has darkened, the brittleness of his wounded gaze has blurred into something far more captivating and she can feel the draw of him chipping away at her resolve. But then she'd based that resolve on Betty's confession of secret feelings for Jughead, feelings the blonde has easily brushed aside in favour of Archie. So really who's she protecting?

He stops just an arm's length away from her and looks searchingly into her eyes. Whatever he's looking for he must find because he takes a breath that's deep enough for her to see his chest rise and fall. "Take off your dress," he says and despite the softness of his voice its unmistakably an order and part of her rails against the audacity.

"Excuse me, what?" she bristles but he doesn't back down and there's that power to him that's been growing since he joined the Serpents, the undeniable thrum of something dark and unyielding that she can't deny really turns her on.

He reaches across the air between them and tenderly thumbs the wetness from her cheek, the pad of his thumb rough and warm on her skin. "You're already naked Veronica," he tells her as he pulls off his beanie with his free hand, the action baring him as surely as her tears bare her. "Take it off. Please. I need to see something beautiful right now"

Nothing, not her own pride, not her loyalty to Betty, not even her yearning to have Archie back, could stop her form complying then. Her hands move of their own volition to slowly unzip the side of her dress so she can shimmy it off her shoulders and let it fall with a faint rustle to the floor.

Blue eyes follow its descent then scan unhurriedly back up over her body. His gaze lingers on her breasts and he makes a tiny gesture with his head that's no less a demand than his earlier words and her bra joins her dress at her feet so that she's standing before him in nothing but her Gianvito Rossi heels, her pearls, and a tiny scrap of satin that cost more than his entire outfit.

He steps in close, lays his hands on her chest just below her throat, and walks her backward till her legs hit the couch and he can press her down so she's sitting and he's on his knees in front of her.

Without breaking eye contact he runs his hand from her calves, up the outside of her thighs to her hips, then back to the inside of her knees so he can spread her legs. She feels wanton and exposed when his gaze falls on satin covered pussy and her body pulses with excited expectation as he drops his head, his hair falling like a raven's wing over one eye.

He kisses her through the thin material of her panties and she moans and presses up against his mouth. "Fuck, yes" she's aware in the back of her mind that she shouldn't be doing this, that this doesn't move them on from Archie and Betty. To call it a rebound suggests something dynamic, an unpredictable bounce back from heartbreak, this is something else. This is quicksand, pulling them both down deeper into their misery.

He pauses just long enough to remove her knickers, carefully guiding the fabric past her heels without removing them and she feels sexy as hell wearing nothing but jewellery and five inch heels as he begins exploring her pussy with his tongue.

He's not like other teenage boys – and if she's honest she's had more than her share for comparison – there's nothing clumsy or over eager about him. The quirks of personality that make him social detached and naturally observant, lend him a rare self-control and an attentive patience she blesses as he takes his time charting her pleasure, her moans and pleas his compass points, until she writhes against him.

She buries her fingers in the now familiar thickness of his hair, gathering up the unruly waves and pushing them back so she can see his face as he stops sucking on her clit in favour of circling it with his tongue as his fingers tease around her entrance till she's squirming and babbling.

"Jesus. Fuck you're good," she gasps appreciatively as he works her with his mouth and his fingers continue to neglect her core, leaving it deliciously empty and yearning so that all the sensation is concentrated on the rhythmic flicks of his tongue and the desperate need to be filled up with him.

"Please" she whines senselessly and bucks up against him in a quest to end his merciless teasing and find her release. He relents and grasps her arse, grinding her against his mouth as he sucks hard on her clit.

"Wow," she sighs as she comes back from her orgasm, her ears are ringing and her arms and legs are limp and heavy. She's barely aware of him laying her down on the couch or of his shirt landing on the carpet as he positions himself in the ungainly v of her spread legs.

She's aware of his weight hovering above her, of the slick wet feel of her own release on her thighs and the still aching void of wanting at her centre. He undoes his belt and she thinks foggily that she should probably do something to help if only she could get her body to work properly again. She manages to lift her hand to the back of his neck, fingers fumbling for the silky hair she's becoming so addicted to caressing.

"Tell me," he murmurs, his voice hovering by her ear his cock poised at her entrance.

He likes her consent explicit she's noticed. The first time's awkward "Are you sure?" replaced in their subsequent encounters by this two word demand not just for permission, but for entreaty.

"I need you," she lifts her hips for emphasis but he evades her, pulling back and silently demanding more.

"Fuck, Jughead," she curses and her pussy aches with the need to be filled up with him. "I need you inside me. Now"

Clearly that's what he wanted to hear, he's inside her in one smooth stroke and she's grateful once again for oral contraceptive, the feel of him entering her without barrier or interruption is everything she's been craving. It's the drug that'll ruin her if she doesn't get herself into rehab soon.

They've explored each other in three carnal assignations as thoroughly as many couples do in months but this is new. He holds himself on his elbows either side of her head, moves inside her with deep unhurried thrusts and looks into her eyes. His gaze deep and enigmatic and she feels open, truly naked, with him for the first time. She's scared it'll be too much, that he'll run from it, or maybe that she will, so she cages him with her arms and legs around his body and holds him tight.

"Veronica," he murmurs as he presses his forehead to hers and she thinks that this is what it feels like to be needed and to need another person in exactly equal measure.

It's new and it makes the air in her lungs feel oddly thick. "Jughead," she whispers and for a fleeting moment she wonders what it would be like to be in love with him and to be loved by him. And when he kisses her, his tongue gentle and searching in her mouth, she thinks it would probably be quite wonderful.

She sheaths her nails for once. Her fingertips are light and tender on his back, her body yielding, and her kisses soft. His hands when they go to explore her body are gentler than they've ever been on her skin and his mouth on her neck won't leave a single bruise tonight.

They're kissing when they come together the heat of him pouring into her as she shudders around him far more intimate than she'd imagined she could feel with him. He pulls her to him and, almost like real lovers, they lie tangled together in the afterglow.

The thought of loving him pushes again at her mind but it's not her that voices it. "Do you ever wish you loved me?" he whispers and she turns her head to find his eyes as he continues. "Or I loved you?"

"Yes, I do," she pauses, but in the low light with his skin sticking to hers and his cum already dribbling down her thigh it seems ridiculous to be anything other than honest. "I think it would be pretty fabulous"

He hums and tightens his arms around her. "Wanna try it on for size?" he asks, half joking, half not.

"Sure," She smirks a little and it feels fond on her own face.

He answers with a shy grin. "I love you Veronica"

"I love you too," she responds the words coming too easily to be real. Her warm rueful laugh though is one hundred percent genuine. "Damn"

"Ok, not a great fit," he agrees while affectionately stroking her back. "Shame, it might have made things easier"

"Or so much worse. Besides," she drags her nails teasingly over his shoulders. "These claws are purely decorative, no way I could take down Betty in a fight over you"

"I told you," he sighs in irritation. "Betty doesn't want me"

"And I told you she does. She said so; in actual words" he tries to disentangle himself from her then but she tightens her body around his and holds him fast. "And I quote, 'I still want him in _every_ way'"

"She chose Archie," he relaxes back into her arms and she's aware they shouldn't be talking about her best friend's love for him when they're wrapped up in each other's naked bodies. "I'm done Veronica, I can't hope it's just too fucking painful"

She doesn't press him any further, instead she kisses him. She's all too aware that this will be their last night together and she's selfish enough to accept his version of the truth and consider him a free agent one last time before she lifts her sword to fight for his happiness with Betty.

Tomorrow she's fully intending to get all up in his business whether he likes it or not. Betty is lying to someone and she's pretty sure it's not her. So, if the blonde's denying her feelings for Jughead and declaring her love for Archie, then it's two of the most important men in her life that are being deceived.

Betty might hate her and Archie may never take her back but she'll be damned if she'll let either of them live a lie. She owes them all so much more for accepting her with all her foibles and trusting her promise to be a better person.

So, tonight she'll be weak so tomorrow she can be strong.

She rolls Jughead over so she can straddle him and explore his chest with open mouthed kisses as he hardens again beneath her. She's determined not to miss anything. She wants to kiss every inch of his skin. She wants to take him in her mouth and hear him beg for her. She wants him deep inside her again. She wants to feel that moment when the easy self-control that makes him such a consummate lover breaks and he's driving mercilessly into her growling her name in her ear as he spills himself inside her.

She has just one more night with him and she's going to have it all.

She wakes late. Sore and sated and alone. On her bedside table is a torn piece of paper bearing the words "Thank you", a scribbled crown, and a lopsided heart. Affection pushes up from her chest and sketches a fond smile on her face as she traces the image with her fingertips and thinks maybe it fits better than either of them knew.

 **Summary for those avoiding smut. Jughead heard Betty and Archie say I love you in the previous chapter and went to Veronica. A final night of of more emotionally connected sex ensued during which V decided she needs to sort out this broken up Bughead nonsense but also to indulge in one last ride with Jughead before she does, because you would wouldn't you.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N thanks so much for the reviews especially mcbubbles who wrote a mini essay of appreciation. Sloppy kisses for all.**

 **Also thanks to all the lovely reviewers who have been turing me into a Jeronica shipper as i write (that last chaps sexton was for you). I'm sorry to announce that we are swinging** **bighead-wards now. but i have some Jeronica friendship moments planned and even a separate alternate ending story buzzing in my head**

 **Writing this in Betty's POV and I'm a little less confident about her internal voice I hope i handle her ok**

Betty's POV

Betty dabs concealer under her eyes in a vain attempt to hide the dark rings that have settled there in the aftermath of Cheryl's revelations about her best friend and her ex and her subsequent, inevitable, break up with Archie.

Sleep had been elusive that night and the first tendrils of dawn pressing through the opaque morning mist had found her sitting at the kitchen counter in her dressing gown staring out through the back window and playing out scenarios in her head.

Her favourite so far is the one where Jughead vanishes back to Southside High as suddenly as he returned to Riverdale and Veronica and her parents have fled the law overnight leaving nothing but rumours in their wake.

It's not realistic and deep down it isn't even what she wants, but the thought of facing either of them today forces her to curl her fists into the towel over her knees to avoid marking her own palms with red crescents of transient control.

She tightens her pony tail, remembering Toni's snide comment about it not so long ago. Funny how jealous she'd been of Toni then and the way she'd looked at Jughead. She'd been afraid that she'd end up competing – and really how could she – with the sass and sex appeal of the gorgeous serpent. Strange to find the snake had been far closer, not to mention even sexier, all along.

Veronica Lodge, her incomparable best friend. The most stylish, confident and sexy woman she's ever met and now Jughead's lover. The thought makes her feel physically sick and her hands go still on her hair as she studies her own nauseous features.

"Betty," her mother enters the room without waiting for an invitation and looks at her with the usual disapproval. "Betty dear you look terrible"

"Thanks mom," she responds dryly and stands to gather her backpack. "I'll see you later"

Archie won't be ready to go yet and she's perfectly happy to walk in alone today. Or at least she thinks she is until she finds Veronica waiting a hundred yards from the school gate ready to pounce. "B," the brunette greets cautiously. "Can we talk?"

"No," she tries to evade her friend but Veronica's not easily shaken. Even wearing her customary five inch heels she easily matches Betty's plimsoll clad pace.

"Betty, seriously, we have to talk this out"

"And say what V?" she rounds on Veronica imitating her nastily. "Sorry I screwed the love of your life girl, totally my bad"

"Betty, believe me, if I'd known-"

"You should have known," Betty feels tears prick her eyes and swipes at them angrily with the back of her hand. "You were my best friend, you were supposed to know"

Veronica looks shocked like she really hadn't thought of it that way. That she hadn't considered that Betty would expect her to see beneath her perfect girl next door facade to the truth of her broken heart. "I'm sorry," Veronica says again and she's already sick of hearing it. How many more times will they all say those pointless seven letters that never actually fix anything?

She turns to go but Veronica's voice stops her after just a few paces. "You were wrong"

Turning back, she sees the slump of her friend's shoulders, the deep furrows in her brow, the weakening of the indomitable Veronica Lodge and it's that and only that that makes her ask. "About?"

"Jughead," his name on those sinful black cherry lips makes her bristle with renewed anger but she doesn't have time to hit back before Veronica elaborates. "Not wanting you. You were wrong, he's heartbroken without you B"

She nods sarcastically. "Sure, so heartbroken he's been spending his free periods putting it to Veronica Lodge in the nearest available storage space." The words are deliberately ugly. She wants to shame Veronica and the flash of guilt on the others face sends a slight fizz of victory through her veins.

Veronica collects herself quickly. "Yes," she says emphatically. " _That_ heartbroken. Gees Betty do you think we were doing it because we were just so happy? He hurt you and he lost you and he couldn't handle it so yes, he 'put it to me' a few times to dull the ache. That's all it was."

Veronica sighs and continues more softly. "And yes, you're right, I am your best friend and I should have seen you weren't really all in with Archie. But how could Jughead have possibly known? He didn't do this to hurt you, he wouldn't, he loves you way too much"

With a swirl of raven hair and a click of expensive heels she goes leaving Betty to watch the empty space where she'd stood and fight the chaos in her mind. _'He loves you way too much.'_

Does he? She wonders. And if he does what does it actually change? All the reasons he broke her heart in the first place are still just as valid now as they were a few weeks ago. But perhaps their perspectives have changed. Perhaps seeing her with Archie has made him feel the way finding out about him and Veronica has made her feel. Desperately jealous and ferociously possessive. Perhaps the call to fight that rages in her chest also rages in his.

It's impossible to tell when she passes him in the hallway later. He's completely unreadable, the collar of his leather jacket turned up, his beanie pulled down as if to minimise the amount of him exposed to the world. She watches him pass and envies him his armour when she feels like her bleeding heart is beating right there in the middle of her chest for all to see.

Kevin finds her skulking in the empty library at recess, "Hey Betts. How you doing?"

She gives him a look she hopes clearly indicates the 'how do you think?' that she doesn't say and he replies with a look of his own in which she reads the clear 'don't even think about shitting me here' and she smiles ruefully and sits down on the steps.

"It's a mess Kev," she says with a sigh as he sits beside her.

"You and Archie broke up?" he asks and she gives him another look.

"Obviously," she props her chin on her hands and looks straight ahead as she speaks. "Even Archie isn't oblivious enough to miss the part where it flipped out on Veronica and called Jughead my boyfriend. He's been pretty amazing about it, considering"

"He's still talking to Jughead anyway," Kevin tells her and the relief she feels that she hasn't driven a wedge between them is palpable. "But given you're hiding here and Veronica blew off history and went home I'm guessing things aren't so friendly with B and V?"

"Not really," it's good to talk to Kevin. With Veronica the subject and both Archie and Jughead too involved he's the only impartial person she can turn too. "I want to forgive her Kev, I do, but I keep imagining her with Jug and I, God, I just can't."

"Would it be a violation of the friend code to point out you and Jughead were broken up?" he asks cautiously and at her glower hurries to add. "Although that is totally not the point."

She doesn't respond and he awkwardly offers a camp. "That bitch" which actually makes her laugh.

"Thanks Kev," she says fondly. "I appreciate the loyalty but it's fine. I know you and V are friends too, it's ok"

Kevin looks relieved and she squeezes his knee and leans her head on his shoulder. "I will forgive her, eventually. I'm just not ready to do it yet."

"And Jughead?"

"Don't," she rubs her forehead. She can feel the Jughead induced chaos rising, filling every square inch of her mindscape with confusion and contradiction, hope, anger and jealousy. "I don't have the headspace right now to think about him especially with V actually trying to tell me he still loves me this morning"

"Well duh?"

"Excuse me?" she feels a sharp stab of annoyance at Kevin's flippancy. It's hardly that simple. "He slept with my best friend"

"And you slept with his," he lifts his hands defensively at her glare. "It's a mess sure but you get to decide if the Serpents, and Archie, and Veronica are road blocks or just speed bumps in your epic star-crossed Romeo and Juliet story. It's up to you Betty, but maybe you actually need to talk to him to figure it out"

She decides as she heads to lunch that she hates it when Kevin proves himself to be wise. Wise enough that she's actually looking for Jughead now instead of avoiding him.

Predictably she finds him in the cafeteria already surrounded by empty plates and packets. Distractedly she wonders how you go about getting a metabolism like his, it would certainly make getting into her cheerleading outfits that much easier.

He's staring straight ahead as she approaches and she take the opportunity to study his profile. She knows his face so well; she's known it her whole life. She's watched it change and mature, the hamster cheeks she'd thought adorable back when he'd been so proud of his two front teeth – while Archie had sported only gaps and gums – have smoothed out over the years giving way to the cut of his high sharp cheekbones.

She tilts her head to study the lines more closely. His jaw is a little soft she supposes, not as strong certainly as Kevin's or Archie's and his nose is, if she's being completely honest, a tiny bit pointy. He's certainly not as conventionally handsome as his best friend, but she's aware that you don't have to be in love with him to appreciate the fullness of his slightly down turned mouth or the elegant curve of his dark eyebrows or the enviable bounce of his onyx sheened hair on those rare occasions he frees it form the confines of his beanie.

He tips the last crumbs from the packet of chips into his mouth and as he discards the empty bag notices her watching him and awkwardly wipes his mouth with his sleeve and swallows. "Betts, hey"

"Hey," she responds softly wishing she'd planned out what she was going to say before finding him.

His eyes dart briefly away from hers. "Er," he pushes away the evidence of his recent stress eating and makes a gesture to the seat opposite. "You wanna-"

"Sure"

"Betty, are you-" he pauses and she can almost see him gather his courage to speak. "Are you okay? Archie said you guys broke up, I'm sorry"

"Are you?" she hits back immediately and he looks baffled by the sudden challenge. "Are you sorry, I mean"

"Betty," his murky blue eyes go soft, his voice is deep and sincere, and it feels like being wrapped up in a warm soft blanket. "If you're hurt then I'm sorry. You know that"

"And if I'm not hurt?" She asks boldly. Frankly she's sick of dancing around everything. She's sick of mixed signals and conflicting accounts. She stares him down, her hands flat and relaxed on the table, as she feels again that liberating recklessness that has driven her deep into so many ugly truths. "What if I'm not sorry? Not about that anyway"

"I don't-"

"Understand?" She gives him a chiding sceptical look. "Yes, you do. If I'm ok with not being with Archie, then are you _really_ sorry? Be honest"

He looks defeated, and a tiny bit ashamed as he admits in a whisper. "No, I'm not"

"Why?"

"Jesus Betty," he whips his gaze away so jerkily it's almost as if he's trying to free himself from a physical restraint. "What do you want me to say?"

"How about whatever you said to Veronica?" she challenges aware that her voice turns bitchy over her best friend's name. "Say that"

She feels almost cruel; his expressive face is taught with an emotion she can only describe as agony and his eyes are swimming with confliction as they return to her. Then he draws in a deep breath and she can see him raise his shields up with it. "Betts-"

"Don't 'Betts' me Jughead," she snaps, he'd looked so close in that moment to the brave, open, vulnerable man she'd fallen for and now he's closing himself off again and she hates it. "I am tired of not knowing where I stand with you. I'm tired of second guessing everything you do, or I do. Why can't we just be honest with each other?" her heart feels wide open, raw and exposed, as she adds in a whisper she's not even sure he'll hear. "Like we used to."

"Because it's too late" he gets up to go but she's after him in a flash, grabbing his arm through the leather of his jacket, wishing she could feel his skin under hers instead of this cold reminder of the wedge between them.

"Damn it Jughead," she hisses. "You told Veronica you still love me. I need to know if it's true"

For a second she sees his love written in bold letters all over his face, she actually feels him tremble and she knows it's true. Veronica wasn't lying, not that she'd really ever believed she was, he is truly still in love with her and everything else is only speed bumps.

Then uncertainty takes over his features and he pulls his arm out of her grasp and turns away. Walking away from her just like he had that night at the Whyte Worm, the only difference is that night she'd wanted to call after him, beg him not to leave her. Today she's just plain furious.

"You're a coward Jughead Jones," she shouts after him, loudly and angrily enough to draw a few amused looks from the other students, and he stops and turns to face her.

She moves closer and repeats more quietly through sudden angry tears. "You're a damn coward"

He stares hard at her for a second and then he takes two long strides towards her and takes her face decisively between his palms in that way he always did and he kisses her.

Everything and nothing makes sense when his lips meet hers. He broke her heart and she thinks she broke his too and they can't just forget that. But his mouth on hers is everything she wants and absolutely everything she needs. Her hands mirror his clutching his face and she's so utterly connected to him that when someone wolf-whistles and he pulls away she feels completely – what had he once called this feeling? – unmoored.

He's gone before she can register him leaving and she sits down in the still warm seat he just vacated, the debris of his forgotten lunch around her elbows as she drops her head into her hands.

Barely a minute later, as if she'd been lurking in the wings, Veronica settles opposite her and tentatively asks. "You ok?"

"I thought you'd gone home"

"I returned," Veronica flashes her eyes dramatically to the ceiling, playing the part of the audacious ritzy girl who blew so dramatically into Riverdale just a year ago. "My work here isn't quite done."

Somehow it's more difficult to be angry with Veronica when she's flippant and saucy than it is when she's contrite. "Your work being?" Betty asks without even considering walking away again.

"Mending the rift between you and," Veronica lifts her manicured hands and makes overtly ironic air quotes. "'The love of your life'. A rift I accept some," her hand falls theatrically on her own chest, the dark nails contrasting with the flawless skin of her décolletage. "But only some, responsibility for"

"Take it up with Jughead," she sighs. "He's the one walking away again"

"Oh, don't worry I will. But Jughead is a man and ergo an idiot"

She snorts her agreement at that, reluctantly amused by Veronica's sass.

"I will happily go slap some sense into him right now Betty." Veronica declares. "But only if you tell me, for certain, you're all in." The dark brows knit together in a worried frown. "He couldn't take losing you again"

"You really care about him?" Even as she asks she's not sure which answer she wants. Is it worse that they were just fuck buddies or that on some level at least they shared a true connection?

"Yes. He's my friend, _our_ friend. So, tell me you're sure and let me help fix this." Veronica's words are so seductive. To forgive her friend and have that Lodge fire in her corner again is tempting but the next word out of the dark-haired girls mouth ruins everything. "Please"

'One to beg', she hears Cheryl's venomous words replayed in her mind and she's suddenly picturing the raven-haired beauty wrapped around Jughead's body, her bold painted lips brushing his ear as she begs him. "Please"

She stands abruptly and goes without looking back to see Veronica's disappointed expression. She walks straight out of the front door and through the gates with her head held high and her eyes dry. By the time she's on her street her vision is swimming and she's biting her lip. On the stairs, the first uncontrolled intake of breath wracks her chest and when her body hits her bed face down she's sobbing.

 **A/N to authors reviews are basically sweeties (candy). Shower me with it and i will get a metaphorical sugar rush and probably whip up another chapter while riding the high :-)**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N thanks so much everyone for the reviews,**

 **Hope you like the turn the story takes in this chapter**

He barely sleeps that night and if not for the constant cautionary tale that if his father he thinks he'd probably be diving into a bottle of something just to get his head to stop spinning long enough for him to close his eyes without feeling nauseous.

He kissed Betty. She was there, calling him out for his cowardice like the wonderful stubborn woman she is, and he couldn't resist her. Not with her jaw set and her eyes flashing. No one gives her credit for her fire, no one ever has. They see the pastel perfect polish of her surface and not the burning force of her intellect and passion below. He sees it, he always did, it's what drew him to her and draws him to her still.

God, he wants her. All the reasons he pushed her away are fuzzy in his mind. The clarity of that night at the Whyte Worm blurred like a page dropped in a puddle. So many words staining its surface and yet so few still legible.

He leaves the trailer late, not wanting to run into her at school until he has at least some semblance of control over the desperate pleading of his heart. The deafening boom, boom, boom he fears could drive him to his knees before her begging her to be his again.

It's mid-morning when Veronica and Archie find him. It's more than a little disturbing that he can tell just from their hurried steps and worried eyes that he can already tell they're dealing once again in life or death.

"Have you seen Betty?" Archie asks without pre-amble.

He shakes his head and Veronica continues. "No one has since fourth period yesterday. And the office-" she doesn't seem to know how to explain she just turns and leads the way. "Come on"

If he was scared when they came to him he's terrified when his eyes scan the Blue and Gold Office. The ordered clutter of Betty's desk has been upturned, papers strewn over it and onto the floor, the dregs of an upturned coffee cup sticky on the desk and keyboard. It's far from a ransacking but he's pretty sure the police would call it 'signs of a struggle'. His heart pounds and his adrenaline spikes noticeably in his veins. But where he sees panic rising on the faces of his friends he feels his own mind finally stop spinning and snap into calm focus.

"You tried calling?" he asks sharply.

"I did" Veronica answers. "It just rings out"

"And no messages from her?"

"Not on my phone," she waves a perfectly manicured hand at the redhead at her side. "Archie left his at home today"

"Ok, did you call her house?"

"No answer," Archie tells him. "Her Mom's out of town and I guess Hal's at work. No answer at the register either"

"Right," he decides a course of action quickly. "We should check with the janitor, he might have seen Betty come in early. Then we head to the Cooper's ok"

They both nod, obviously relieved to be given orders to follow and he leads them towards the janitors little room near the gym.

The new janitor, an Armenian with a heavy accent and a warm smile, nods when they ask him about Betty. "Oh yes," he says enthusiastically. "Newspaper girl in early as usual. A good girl that one, I wish my girls were as good, but they waste all their time on boys you know. I didn't see her go, blockage in girl's bathroom. Very messy"

"Thank you"

They leave the school without even a trying for a stealthy exit and rush to Betty's house without exchanging a word. The Cooper's cars are both gone but Polly can be seen making tea in kitchen window and waves welcomingly to them as they approach.

A few minutes later they're seated in the lounge, Veronica next to Polly, as they gather what scant information they can.

"She was fine going to school," Polly tells them. "Well better anyway"

"Better than?" Archie presses.

"Yesterday afternoon, when Dad and I got back from my ultrasound," Polly's brow furrows and she bites her lip nervously. "She was crying."

"Did she tell you why?" Jughead asks, although he suspects he's the reason.

"She told me everything," Polly confirms his culpability as she gives him and Veronica each a hard look. "About the two of you. And breaking up with Archie. And the canteen."

He closes his eyes and beats back his guilt with merciless pragmatism. "And this morning?"

"She said she was ok," Polly shrugs but there's nothing negligent about the tense rise and fall of her shoulders. "And that she was going to work on a story?"

"Did she say what?" he asks quickly, the thought that an expose could be motive for abduction energising his words.

"Sorry," Polly reads his mind and shakes her head. "Nothing contentious. A bread and butter piece, on exam stress or something"

After a pause Polly speaks again. "Are you really worried? Where shall we look?"

"No way," Archie intervenes. "Betty would kill us all if we let her about to give birth sister join the chase. We'll find her Polly I promise. Just call us if you hear anything ok"

"Ok"

On the porch they stop and look at each other none of them knowing what to do next. "Let's get your phone," he suggested hopelessly. "She might have texted you"

The '1 missed calls' written across the lock screen of Archie's phone sets his heart hammering and he can barely breathe as Archie calls his voicemail and puts the phone on speaker and they gather around it nervously.

Betty's voice comes through faintly, slightly muffled as if she's pocket dialled him, and even through his fear he feels that familiar glow of admiration her resourcefulness always inspires.

"We thought you were dead?" she husks and they all lean closer to try and hear more clearly.

A voice comes through distorted and deep. "No"

"Are you going to kill me?" the tears bleed through Betty's muffled voice and his guts twists painfully at the image of her scared tear stained face that rises in his mind.

"I would never hurt you Betty," the voice declares bringing them hope that she'll be ok. "That's not why I'm back"

"Why then?" Betty chokes out.

"Because I thought my work cleansing this town was complete. But you, you of all people, proved otherwise." There's a pause and when his voice comes again it's louder as if he moved closer to Betty. "If even you are determined to sin, how deep does this rot go? How many will need to be expunged?"

Veronica's eyes meet his in fear but none of them speak as Betty replies breathless with fear and racking sobs. "Please, I haven't done anything wrong?"

"Haven't you? You and your _friends_ " the word even through the dime store voice modulator drips with disdain. "Hoping in and out of each other's beds like teenage swingers. In Archie's bed one night and throwing yourself at that filthy snake the next even as he slithers out of your best friend's"

She sobs loudly. "It's not like tha-"

"You are the gauge by which I measure the good in this town," the voice rises angrily. "If you sin I judge them all sinners and I will cleanse them one by one."

"No," Betty gasps and he can't say if her just imagines that he hears the guilt in it.

"But, if you live righteously then they will be allowed to live," the hood - because really who else could it be? - continues more calmly. "Don't you feel it's better this way? That you and I can resolve this between ourselves. Like friends"

"What do you want from me?" Betty's voice breaks and his body tenses with the impotent need to take action, to save her.

"Cast out the serpent," the hood tells her his voice softer and closer than before. "Expel him and his whore from your life. Cast him out forever this time Betty."

He hears her sob loudly through the phone. "Please, no"

"I can tell you're not ready," the hood tells her and the voice recedes. In his mind he sees a hooded figure stepping away from a bound and terrified Betty. "I'll give you a little while to change your mind before I begin my work. Work that will start with your beloved viper"

"No," Betty's cry is loud and desperate. "Not Jughead, please. I'll do anything, please, please, not him, not him" the noise of a door slamming can be heard and Betty's sobs come louder interspersed with quieter whimpers of denial and his name repeated over and over making his heart shatter with all the sorrys he wants to give to her.

Eventually the line goes silent save for her ragged breathing, then a few scrapes and thumps before it goes dead.

Veronica is crying and Archie looks both enraged and lost at once. "That bastard"

His takes deep determined breath. Guilt and panic wrestle for dominance in his mind but he exerts a brutal self-control. He pictures himself closing a door on a storm and in the quiet he focuses his mind on saving Betty. "We need to find her and to do that we need to know who that is"

"The hood?" Archie splutters. "Are you serious? We had no leads before after months, we aren't going to solve it in a couple of hours"

"We are," he tells them, his tone brooking no argument. "Because we have to"

Veronica and Archie stare dumbly at him for a moment and he gives and exasperated sigh. "Come on you guys, what do we know? Or at least what do we know that's new? Or different"

"He took Betty hostage," Veronica state's making a visible effort to calm herself and be useful. "He didn't just kill her like the others"

"Ok, so why?" he leans against the counter and bites his nail as he tries to force his tumbling thoughts into some order. "Why take her?"

"Because they have a connection," Archie's finally managed to get control over his rage and sits heavily on one of the kitchen stools. "Because of that speech. The one he told her started everything"

He clenches his jaw and tries again to wrangle his thoughts. It doesn't seem to fit, something seems off, the things the hood had said to her, the focus on her love life. "Or something else. That was all pretty personal stuff, how did he know all that? If we can work out who would know all that stuff, that would narrow it down."

"Anyone Cheryl ever met could, and probably does, know about you and me" Veronica's voice sounds at once disdainful and defeated. "I know she at least told the vixens"

"And the football team" Archie adds despondently.

"And anyone at school could know that I kissed her yesterday. Shit"

"Wait," Archie's head snaps up. "You kissed her?"

"Arch-" he begins but he's interrupted before he can form an apology

"Not now boys!" Veronica snaps. "Focus"

"Wait, there was one other thing." Archie taps his own thigh. "He said 'Archie's bed', no one knows about that"

"Could be an assumption," Jughead counters but Archie's suddenly energised by some realisation and he can't help the quickening of his heart. "You were her boyfriend"

"No," Archie shakes his head and looks between him and Veronica. "It was actually really specific. The night before Cheryl told us about the two of you Betty and I slept together for the first time"

"Right," jealousy hovers dimly on the outside of his mind, easily overshadowed by the burn of worry for Betty but he is aware that somewhere in his mind he's storing that information up to torment himself with once all this is over. "So, who knows you and Betty, you know?"

"I did," Veronica offers and the air is suddenly buzzing with energy, the feeling of accelerating towards something sweeping them all along together. "Archie obviously. Kiss and tell isn't Betty's style, so maybe Kevin and that'd be everyone"

They pause, each with their eyes cast down, each searching their minds for anyone else who could have known what he didn't; that Betty Cooper had slept with Archie Andrews. Despite the crazy situation, despite his own recent sexual awakening with Veronica, despite he has absolutely no right to, he feels decidedly nauseous at the thought and his eyes go automatically to the window and Betty's house beyond.

"Shit," he hisses and the others look at him expectantly. "They'd know," he points at the house opposite. "How could they not, you live right there? And she may have told Polly about it yesterday when she and Hal-"

"Shit" he murmurs again as the numbers start adding up in his mind.

Veronica's arithmetic is only a half-step behind his. "Hal has green eyes" she says quietly.

Jughead nods solemnly, unwilling to belief his own theory. "And he'd fit the profile. Jesus"

Archie catches up in a rush of denial. "No way. Hal's a dick but he loves those girl"

"A pretty twisted love," suddenly he's convinced of it. Perhaps because he really thinks it adds up or more likely because it's all they have and he's desperate for a way to save Betty. "You didn't see the Sisters of Quiet Mercy Archie. The Coopers have some deranged ideas about shame"

"Ok" Veronica stands suddenly. "If it is Hal, where would he take her? Obviously, they're not over there"

"They don't exactly have property all over town," Archie's still looking unconvinced.

"The Register," he's already grabbing his bag. "It has a basement, she could be there"

Veronica's heading for the door when Archie's voice stops them. "Guys are we seriously doing this? Storming over to the register, accusing Hal. It's insane. We should call Sherriff Keller"

"We will," Veronica assures him, her hand grasping his forearm. "We'll call him on the way and tell him about the message and Betty being gone. But do you really think he'll believe it's Betty's dad, he'll think we're crazy"

"I think we're crazy"

"And maybe we are," Jughead sounds desperate even to himself but he needs Archie with them right now. "But what if we're not? We'll call Keller because yeah, maybe we're wrong. But we have to go to the Register ourselves too because maybe we're not"

Archie still looks unconvinced so he joins Veronica standing right in front of his immobile friend. "Archie, maybe we're not"

That's all it takes. Archie nods and they're out of the door. "V," he orders as they move "Call Keller then find a way to get to the Register. Arch," he sprints ahead to the garage where he knows Fred and Archie's mountain bikes hang neatly on the back wall. Because damn it they're still kids and they don't have a car between them. They race through the suburbs like the kids from Stranger Things, knowing it'd be laughable if it wasn't so terrifyingly serious.

Archie's faster of course, powering ahead like the jock he's become while Jughead's lungs burn and his legs ache with the effort of keeping Archie in sight as they hurtle through the quiet streets.

"We're coming Betty" he thinks as they turn towards the busier roads that lead into the town centre. "Hold on we're coming"


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N I am so sorry for the delay on this chapter. Honestly I got really stuck writing it. In the end i just powered through and I hope the result isn't too terrible.**

Outside the office of the Register Archie watches Jughead drop his bike next to his own and gives his wheezing friend a doubtful look. He's lived opposite Hal Cooper his whole life and there is absolutely no way he's a serial killer. But Jughead just nods towards the door and he sighs out the reluctant acknowledgment that his friend's right and they can't risk not investigating the Register because it's quite literally the only theory they have.

"Ok dude, play it cool," Jughead whispers as he pushes the door.

"Boys," Hal is at his desk smiling charmingly. "Shouldn't you two be at school?"

"Hi Mr Cooper," Archie glances at Jughead who gives him an encouraging nod. "We're actually looking for Betty, she didn't come in today"

"Oh, no" Hal looks slightly confused. "Betty went upstate with Alice today, some kind of girls' bonding trip. I do my best not to pry but I gather one or other of you two boys left my Betty feeling kinda blue?"

Hal's relaxed fatherly chiding is not the evidence of serial killer psychopathy they'd been looking for and Archie's mostly glad about that even if it leaves them back at square one and in the corner of his eye he sees Jughead's certainty dissolve into hopelessness. "Honestly guys, you just need to give her some time, let her calm down. When Alice and I fight, believe me, discretion is definitely the better part of valour."

"Mr Cooper," Archie begins, and then, after giving Jughead a questioning look to which the darker boy responds with a nod. "I think Betty's in trouble, she called me and it sounded like she's been kidnapped"

"We called the sheriff Mr Cooper," Jughead interjects. "But we're looking everywhere for her too"

"You're sure?" Hal's already on his feet and moving them all to the door. "Oh my god I have to get to the station"

He ushers them out and quickly locks the door. Jughead's already moving ahead down the pavement, his shoulders slumped in defeat so it's Archie that notices the nervous way Hal double checks the lock. When Hal's car disappears around the block he tugs on Jughead's sleeve and leads him to the ally round the back.

By the time they've managed to open the small high window above the back bathroom and tumble gracelessly one by one onto the cistern he's breathing hard and convinced he's actually insane to imagine Hal is the Hood.

They dash for the basement only to come up short, as Veronica appears in the office.

"How'd you get in?" Jughead hisses and she shrugs.

"Door was open"

Jughead casts him a knowing look and his heart rate takes off as they all creep towards the basement the sound of their ragged breathing and soft footsteps deafening in the taut air.

Their path is blocked and suddenly it's all terribly, terribly, real. In the corner of his eye Archie notice Jughead position his body in front of Veronica's, one arm lifting to tuck her in behind him. He feels it too; the need to protect Veronica from the masked man ahead of them. Maybe it's misogynistic, maybe its instinct, he doesn't question it as he draws the gunman's attention away from his friends.

"What have you done with Betty?" he asks in a voice far less forceful than he'd intended. His heart is pounding and he's having flashbacks to that moment in the diner when he did nothing for his dad. It won't be that way this time. This time he will save the people he loves form this homicidal bastard.

The hood doesn't speak he just makes a gesture with his free hand that clearly demands they turn and leave. They don't move and he gestures more empathetically stepping aggressively closer when they still don't move and pointing his gun close range at Jughead's temple.

Jughead closes his eyes tight, braced for a shot that doesn't come as the hood crumples suddenly to the ground revealing the dirty and trembling figure of Betty Cooper. She drops the heavy fire extinguisher she's brandishing with a clang, the noise stunning Jughead into motion and sending him stumbling over the prone body between them to take Betty in his arms. "Oh God Betts"

She clings to him. "I thought, oh god, I thought he was going to kill you." She pulls back and runs her hands frantically over the lines of his jaw and Archie thinks he's never seen her look so real. "He said, he said-"

"We know, we heard," Jughead soothes and pulls her into his body again. "It's ok Betts, we're ok, we're all ok."

Veronica catches Archie's eye and he can see across the room that she's still trembling as much as the rest of them but she's got a little Lodge steel under the surface and she quickly takes up the fallen gun and points it at the groaning man on the ground. "Archie," she prompts and he steps forward intent on finally unmasking the hood for real.

"It's my dad, isn't it?" Betty's voice stops him and he looks to see her staring tearfully at the man on the ground from the safety of Jughead's encircling arms. He doesn't answer until she turns her gaze on him and then all he can do is offer a regretful nod before pulling off the mask to reveal the face of Hal Cooper beneath.

The reality of it draws a sobbing gasp from Betty and she turns her face into Jughead's chest while Archie drags the recovering man up into a sitting position and Veronica keeps the gun levelled on him without so much as a quaver in her grip.

"Dad?" Betty asks softly as Hal finally opens his eyes.

Her father doesn't reply and in the end Betty bites back her tears and speaks again. "You're the hood"

Hal shakes his head and grunts. "Of course not. Betty," he sounds almost offended by the suggestion. "No, of course not"

Veronica gives Betty's father a dubious look. "That's not how it looks Mr Cooper"

"I'm not the hood, don't be so ridiculous," he props himself up against the wall and addresses Betty. "I just wanted to get you back on the straight and narrow, thought this could scare a little sense into you"

"What?" Archie hears Jughead's shocked reaction as it matches his own.

"It was crazy, I know that. But I heard you tell Polly about him," he jerks his head accusingly at Jughead. "I couldn't think of another way to stop you going back to him"

"Jesus dad are you serious?" Betty looks hurt and disbelieving and angry all at once. "You kidnapped me and used my worst fear to threaten me because you don't like Jughead. We're not even together right now"

"But you wanted to be," Hal suddenly sparks with anger. "Another Smith woman making a fool of us all over a fucking Jones"

Jughead looks between Betty and her father as the former shakes her head in confusion. "What is wrong with you? Why now? I've been with Jughead for months, why is it suddenly a problem?"

"I'll show you why," Hal pushes himself up quickly making the whole group pull back and Veronica grip the gun tighter.

Hal ignores her and pushes past them to the front office where he grabs a file form his desk. "Your mother," he spits. "She's looking for that baby she gave up. She's following a lead a few towns over"

"So?"

He opens the file and pushes it towards them. "That's her lead"

In the file is a photograph from which stares out a handsome rangy young man of about twenty-five. He has a cigarette between his full lips and his jet-black hair falls in unkempt waves over his forehead.

"I don't understand"

"Look at him Betty"

Betty's eyes follow her father's from the image to look at the raven haired boy at her side and Archie is hit by a sudden wave of understanding that he can tell still eludes his friends.

"Jesus," he draws Hal's attention with the curse.

"Poly's already shamed us, carrying her cousins baby, now this. The Cooper's will be a laughing stock. This isn't Oklahoma"

"You think this is Jughead's dad's kid?" Archie asks before he loses his grip on this crazy moment of perception.

"Fuck" Jughead's curse comes over the top of Betty's less convinced. "That's crazy"

"Mrs Cooper and my dad?" Jughead asks and he sounds like he can't imagine anything more implausible in his life.

"Dad," Betty ignores the serpent and addresses her father. "That is insane, mom was with you. She'd never have-"

Hal snorts and it's clear that he's lost any faith he ever had in his wives past fidelity. "I used to believe that, that she'd actually given FP up. But look at him Betty" he gestures helplessly to the image of the young man who certainly looks more like Jughead's brother than Betty's.

"Dad," his tragic expression draws sympathy into his daughter's voice and Hal rushes on with his justifications.

"So, you see Betty? You see," Hal looks like he imagines his actions, his stupid monstrous, borderline certifiable, actions vindicated in some way. "That's why you have to stay away from him."

Betty's empathy evaporates into an expression so quickly changing that Archie can't track her emotions over her face and turns instead to see Jughead watching her profile with trepidation.

"You wanted to scare me dad?" Betty's face settles into that flinted hardness she gets from Alice as she addresses her father. "Well congratulations I've never been more terrified than when you threatened Jughead. I thought he was in real danger and do you know what dad?" She steps a little closer to her father and Archie can't help the fleeting thought that she's a crazy scary girl sometimes. "I would have died, gladly, right there and then to keep him safe."

"Betty-"

"You thought you'd scare me off him?" Betty scoffs. "But you just made me even surer."

Betty steps back to Jughead's side and without looking at him continues in a steely voice. "I love Jughead dad and if he'll take me back then nothing, not you, not mom, and certainly not some hypothetical half-brother, who doesn't in any way make us related, is going to stop me being with him"

Archie watches Jughead watching Betty, sees the admiration, more than that, the wonder, in those guarded blue eyes and he knows there's no if about Jughead taking Betty back. She has his heart on a string and Archie should have seen that way before he got together with Betty. He should have realised how different love is for the two of them than it is for him, how much deeper the furrow they've torn in each other's hearts is than anything his many infatuations have left in his.

"I'm going home," Betty states coldy. "I need to shower and I need to talk to mom. Jug," she turns to look into Jughead's face and her hard gemstone eyes soften to the colour of sunlight shining through maple leaves. "Walk me?"

"Sure"

"B," Veronica's still holding gun loosely in Hal's direction. "What should we do about-"

"Leave him, he's not the hood."

Veronica nods and lowers the gun.

"And V" the dark-haired girl's eyes lift to Betty's a little nervously at the blonde's commanding tone. Betty forces a small smile and a nod. "Thanks," she looks at Archie too. "Both of you. Thanks, for coming to the rescue"

"Anytime B" Veronica says with pointed sincerity and Archie thinks, really hopes, he's witnessing the groundworks being laid for a reconstruction of their friendship.

"Don't come home tonight dad," Betty order's as she slips her hand into Jughead's and the two of them walk out of the door.

 **A/N as i said i'm not so happy with this. Next time we'll see if Alice's lead as a dead end and we'll see how Betty and Jughead's reconciliation goes and where it all leaves Veronica and Archie. Please let me know what you think, some constructive criticism would be useful on this chapter**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N sorry this took soooo long and that it was a mess of ms word garbage first time i tried to post. Big thans to To Love This who kicked me to update then pointed out the weirdness xx**

Exhaustion comes over her like a drug as they walk silently homeward, distorting her senses to this hall of mirrors she's stepped into where the familiar becomes grotesque. Where loving father becomes a kidnapper and helicopter mother a cheat. Where she might see in her brother's reflection more of the boy she loves than of herself.

Jughead's hand feels warm and strong tangled with hers and she focuses on it, a pinpoint of sanity in a sea of madness. She holds tight and tries not to question that he seems to have taken her back. That he's just put aside everything, Archie and Veronica and the unsettling possibility of sharing a sibling and simply, without a word, taken her back. In all the insanity of the day that seems the craziest thing. That getting him back could possibly be that easy.

He lets go of her hand and for a second she imagines that just thinking it has somehow reminded the cosmos that it's impossible and snatched the dream from her numb fingers.

Then his arm comes around her waist and his voice is soft and rich in her ear. "I've got you Betts"

Only then does she realise how much she's swaying, how much of her weight he's having to support to keep her upright.

Polly's at the door, voice shrill, eyes wild with worry but Betty barely hears her through the haze of exhaustion. All she's aware of is the softness of her bed and Jughead's hands retracting as he stands.

"Jug" she calls him back weakly. "Don't go"

She lifts one hand tiredly hoping he'll get the hint. He does and lies down on the bed beside her. She wants to protest that he's on top of the covers but she hasn't the strength, her eyes are already closing and it's enough that she can feel his warm breath against her cheek and smell his cheap aftershave as she falls asleep.

By the time she wakes darkness has fallen and Jughead is sitting up against her headboard reading an old copy of Cosmo that had been lying on her night stand. She watches his blue eyes scan the words, and for a moment all the madness of the day fades and all there is is Jughead sitting on her bed like he belongs right there with his beanie off and his thick dark hair spilling over his eyes.

"Hey," her voice comes out croaky and hoarse and he immediately discards the magazine and reaches for the class of water on the bedside table. "Thanks"

The water is tepid, like it's been sitting there for a while and she glances at her bedside clock to see it's well into the evening.

"Is my mom back?"

"She called," he takes the glass back from her and sets it down. "Polly says she won't be home till late. How you doing?"

She huffs. "You know what's scary? I'm not that freaked out. My family is so nuts that at this point even all this insanity doesn't surprise me."

"That's disturbing," his brows knit together and the corner of his mouth tightens in an expression so familiar that in spite of everything she can't help but smile at the warm glow of affection it sparks in her chest.

"Thank you." She reaches for his hand because the warmth in her chest demands contact but stops just short feeling suddenly unsure and self-conscious. "For looking after me"

"Of course"

They're silent, both watching the few inches of comforter separating their fingertips for a few moments before he speaks again, her name coming out slightly broken. He clears his throat and tries again. "Do you want me to get Polly? I didn't really tell her anything and she's pretty freaked out"

She groans at the thought of telling Polly about what happened today. Revealing that their father is kinda a sociopath and their mother is out looking for a long-lost brother that could well be a serpent's love child. Jughead awkwardly brushes his fingers over hers, pulling back almost immediately as if unsure if he has permission to touch her. "Or I could tell her you, I dunno, had low blood sugar or something"

She laughs at that, just a brief huff of mirth but it makes him smile and she feels a tiny bit saner. "She can handle the truth, she knows how nuts they are. I'll go talk to her in a bit"

"'Kay," he licks his lips and glances around skittishly. "Do you need anything? Or, maybe want me to go?"

He looks like he's about to get up and the thought of him leaving is so unacceptable that she instinctively reaches out and places her hand firmly on his thigh. "No and definitely not" his eyes flash to her hand on his leg and then back to her face.

"Betty" he mumbles like her name is the only word he can pull from his mind and yet in it she hears all the things he isn't saying. All the questions and the cautions and underneath the pleading she knows she'll hear in her own voice if she says his name back to him.

She lifts her hand from his leg and cups his cheek the way she's done so many times before, framing his face with her hand and savouring the warmth of his skin under her palm. "Jug," his name comes out as shakily as he'd said hers and she hears his breathing shudder in response.

He's trembling, an almost imperceptible vibration under her palm and she knows he's as terrified as she is right now. But she's always been braver so she does what she knows he won't, she slips her hand from his cheek to the back of his neck and pulls his lips to hers.

He makes a noise in his throat when their mouths meet that's somewhere between a groan and a whimper and his lips yield immediately to hers. His hands lie limply at his sides and their bodies are barely touching but she's still alive with a sort of full body buzz of excitement that has virtually nothing to do with passion and everything to do with possession and the proprietary chant of mine mine mine inside her skull.

When she pulls away he swallows thickly and opens his mouth as if to speak but nothing comes out and his eyes go to her lips for a lingering moment then back up to her eyes. His mouth moves again but she silences him with a second kiss. She kisses more firmly this time and he matches the pressure perfectly and brings his hands to her waist as she presses him onto his back and slides her tongue smoothly into his mouth. She's still feeling a bit disconnected from reality, both worn out and on edge at the same time and a little lost in the exhausted euphoria of survival.

Without thinking what she's doing she trails her hand down his chest and up under his shirt briefly stroking the dip of his stomach before tracing the jut of his sharp hip bone down to the waist band of his tatty jeans. She'd do it now she realises. Right now. She'd unbuckle his belt and fuck him right here in the wreckage of her family's sanity just to stake her claim. Maybe that makes her crazy too.

It's his sanity that prevails and she finds her hands gently caught up in his and held between them. "Betty" it's almost chiding or maybe more accurately it's plaintive as he asks her not to test his restraint right now. "You need to talk to Polly"

She nods both grateful and disappointed to be disentangling herself from his embrace. "Will you stay? I guess you might kinda need to hear what my mom has to say too"

He grimaces at that. "I'm doing my best to block that thought out right now."

She nods her agreement. FP and her mom seems impossible and more than a little unsettling. But then again, if she thinks about it, there's always been a tension between them, a little extra bristle to her mom which maybe she'd misinterpreted as typical Alice Cooper prejudice.

"I know, God, I feel like I barely know her right now, or my dad" she feels Jughead's hand firmly squeezing hers and takes a deep breath, drawing in his strength along with a lungful of calming air. "Ok let's talk to Polly and prepare to ambush Alice Cooper"

"Christ" Jughead runs a hand through his hair then back down over his face. "Just don't put me in the vanguard ok, I can't guarantee the steeliness of my backbone in the face of your mother"

"Jughead Jones," she teases feeling a wave of happiness at the privilege of being able to tease him again. "Are you yellow?"

"Yes," he confirms decisively with dancing playful eyes. "When it comes to mama Coops most definitely yes"

She laughs. "Women and children first then I guess"

He smirks and gestures for her to go ahead of him to face her family. "Lead the way"


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N thanks kindly for the reviews, even the angry ones :-)**

Chapter 11 - Jughead

He hopes Archie isn't sleeping when, at 1am, he hurls a flurry of shale-like gravel against his old friend's bedroom window.

"Hey man" Archie's appears in silhouette in the window almost immediately. "Backdoor's open."

"Thanks Arch" he murmurs as slips silently into Archie's room and sits down on the edge of the bed.

It's more than simply a thanks for inviting him up. More than a thanks for helping him save Betty, more even than a thank you for forgiving him over Veronica. It's a thank you that resonates back and forth through their history. "Thank you for standing up to Reggie", "Thank you for giving me a home when I needed one the most", "Thank you for taking the blame when I spilt paint on Mr Whitaker's desk back in third grade"

He almost wishes that the two of them were the kind of friends who shared hugs. In this moment he craves that contact. He longs to feel Archie, solid and real in his arms, to reaffirm a love he can't remember living without in the firm squeeze of his friends embrace. Right now, he could really use that.

But they aren't, and it's his fault obviously, so he simply accepts Archie's half smile and stiff "Anytime."

There's a strained and creaking silence then in which Archie takes in his exhausted face with worried eyes and he grows acutely aware that the perennial smudges of fatigue beneath his eyes darker than ever against his pale skin. "Dude," Archie voices the thought. "You look like shit."

He laughs then, out through his nose, a single exhalation of mirth that breaks the tension between them. Archie gives him a sideways look and ask wryly. "So, you got a new brother yet?"

"Christ," Jughead, paws at his own face in a clumsy and futile attempt to wipe away the exhaustion that comes over him whenever that thought surfaces in the chaotic eddies inside his brain. "Not at the moment. That guy wasn't Mrs C's kid. Can't be ruled out though. Apparently, Alice never even knew herself who the father was"

"Seriously?" Archie looks as dumbfounded by that as he'd felt sitting beside Betty in the Cooper's living room while the sisters grilled their mother about their long-lost brother's parentage.

Indignation and anger had quickly given way to a fleeting look of shame before Alice had lifted her chin and defiantly stared them down as fearlessly as the lioness he always saw her as.

"I was young," she'd said, her eyes on him, perhaps to avoid having to look at her own daughters. "And your father was-" she'd cut herself off and taken a deep breath before starting again.

"The baby was almost certainly Hal's. We were together and I was living on the Northside. But there were times," another steadying breath and her eyes had lost focus, turning to the past. "FP wasn't an easy man to let go of"

"Gees Mom, you cheated on dad? How could you?" Betty had sounded outraged and disappointed in her mother and Alice had rolled her eyes with a mixture of impatience and scorn.

"Oh, please Betty," she'd looked hard at her daughter before throwing her eyes over him pointedly. "You'd have done the same a week ago and you know it"

He'd looked at Betty, waiting for the expected denial but she'd simply bristled and pursed her lips, her gaze focused somewhere over her mother's shoulder. He'd realised Alice was right, Betty would have. All her love for Archie, all her natural goodness and sense of right, she'd have thrown it away for him. The thought had been at once elating and disturbing and he's glad when Archie's voice pulls him away from the memory. "So, what now?"

He shrugs. "Who knows?"

They sit in silence again though it's less strained this time. More empty - anticlimactic.

Saving Betty had felt like a crescendo. Her heartfelt defiance of her father with declarations of undaunted, uncontainable love. The two of them leaving, with joined hands, all unity and defiance. It had felt like the glorious sweep of the Halleluiah Chorus. But afterwards the music had faded and there was just a stagnant vat of fucked up for them all to drown in.

A marriage crumbling, a brother - Betty's certainly, his possibly - lost, a friendship not yet repaired. He looks at Archie's profile and feels an ache of love and regret so deep it physically hurts his chest. "You gonna tell your dad?" Archie turns to him and he startles a little at the sound of the redhead's voice.

"Betty's mom forbade it until she knows for sure," he shrugs and give a wry smile. "Alice Cooper is not a woman to be defied. Also, there's no point stirring anything up until we know right?"

"That makes sense," Archie agrees. "You wanna crash here?"

And there's that love again thumping on the inside of his ribs like a bass drum. Archie Andrews may be clueless, impulsive and often misguided if they're honest. But he is still one of the best natured people Jughead's ever met, loyal and uncomplicated in his affection, fathomless in his forgiveness. "Yeah, thanks bro."

They set up the air mattress and settle down in silence, he's not even sure if Archie's awake when he mumbles "I'm sorry Archie, truly, for everything," into the gloom.

He hears the creak of bed springs and turns to face Archie's barely visible form. "I know man, it's ok. It sucks but it's ok"

His throat is so tight then that his voice cracks humiliatingly over the "Night Arch," he manages to choke out before he turns over and goes to sleep.

The morning brings Betty to Archie's door asking Fred a little awkwardly if Jughead had stayed there last night.

"Hey Betty," despite that Fred must know that Betty has effectively dumped his son to get back together with him, Jughead can't detect the slightest note of hostility in the older man's tone. "I'm not sure, let me check"

He saves Fred the trouble by materialising in the doorway. "Morning Mr A, hey Betts"

Her smile is wan and her skin is pale with fatigue but her eyes still seem to brighten when they find his and something flutters in his chest. "Morning Juggie, can we talk"

"Sure," he turns to Fred and indicates vaguely towards the stairs. "Sorry for crashing so late. Archie's still sleeping."

"Anytime Jug," Fred's voice is it usual combination of husky and sincere and he thinks, not for the first time, how alike Archie and his father are. "You know that"

"Thanks"

He leaves with Betty and they walk in silence, meandering ruderlessly through the streets until Betty falls away behind him and he finds himself having to retrace a full three strides to reunite with her on the park bench she's settled on.

"What a mess" she says with a heavy sigh as she turns to him.

"I know," he can feel his mouth turned downwards and he shakes his head in mournful bafflement. "Exactly nothing about the last twenty-four hours makes even an iota of sense"

Her lips twitch then and she looks at him from under her lashes before coyly averting her eyes. "Nothing at all?" she asks, the words heavy with suggestion and her eyes come back to his, expression both shy and expectant.

"Well," he draws out the word, carefully but he can feel his own smile beginning to form. "Maybe one thing"

Betty shifts so she's facing him fully. She catches her lower lip between her teeth and the movement draws his gaze like a magnet making him powerless to look away, or prevent himself from nervously wetting his own lips.

"It does make sense right Jug?" she asks suddenly seeming unsure. "I'm not crazy to think that in all this madness that this, us, still makes senses?'

"Certainly makes sense to me. God," he has to pause and take a breath before he lets his regret tumble out "I can't even remember why I thought we should break up. I can't imagine myself ever believing that was for the best. I am so sorry Betty"

She dismisses his apology with a shake of her head, a pretty delicate frown on her forehead. "I missed you Juggie"

Her hand finds the side of his face and he leans into her as he replies, his voice a murmur. He doesn't trust it not to break on anything louder. "I missed you too"

She has doe eyed, hopeful expression of a woman who wants to be kissed and who the hell is he to deny her. His mouth finds hers and she melts immediately into him her body moulding itself to his so that he can feel her curves against his chest. Her hands are travelling over his body greedily and he thinks vaguely that he doesn't remember her being so grabby but she feels familiar and warm and so very Betty that his brain quickly shuts out everything until all there is in his mind is his own voice repeating her name.

He pulls away briefly so that the words can break out of his skull and inhabit the air between them. "Betty, God, Betty I-"

"Jug," she interrupts. "Can we go somewhere? Somewhere private"

"Sure," he stands and takes her hand pulling her up with him. "The trailer, we can talk there"

As soon as the door of the trailer closes he realises talking isn't at all what she has in mind. She presses him back against the closed door, one hand delving beneath his shirt while the other knocks his beanie from his head and buries in his hair.

He'd be lying if he said her sudden aggression didn't do things to him. The force of her mouth against his, the eagerness of her touch as she maps his body with her hands are exhilarating and frankly a massive turn on that has him rock hard in moments. He's considering a tactical retreat before she notices when she reaches down between them and grasps him roughly through his jeans.

He hisses and she squeezes him again, her other hand grasping the back of his neck possessively and he's losing the ability to think straight when she whispers in his ear. "Tell me your mine, Jug"

"I'm yours Betty"

" _Only_ mine"

His brain is clouded with lust and his body is doing its best to drown out any and all conscious thought but he's just lucid enough to slowly catch up with what's happening here. Betty's whispering against his ear, huskily demanding confirmation. "Only mine Jug, Say you're only mine"

"Betty," he pulls back a little, capturing one of her wandering hands and pulling it between them. "Betty stop"

The lust clears from her eyes leaving them huge and unsure. "What's wrong Jug"

"Not like this Betty," his voice cracks and he swallows thickly. "Come on, not like this"

She presses her lips together and tries to pull her hand away but he tugs it back and uses his other hand to catch her chin. "We should wait, shouldn't we? Let the dust settle"

Her jerky nod tells him she doesn't trust her voice and part of him hates himself for denying her, but another part, a larger part, knows that he's right and this is not the right time.

She's marking her territory. She senses how Veronica lingers on his skin, how vivid and fresh the memories of her are. Betty wants to erase them, drive them out with her body, with the wet slide of her tongue and the heat of her pussy. He gets it, he does, but he just can't, because she's right and Veronica is still too close.

With barely any effort he can conjure the soft feeling of her breasts in his palms, the scent of her skin, the hot wet trap of her pussy, and the last thing he wants is to find himself comparing that echo to the reality of Betty.

For so long he was certain Betty would be his first, that everything he understood about sex he'd learn with her, he never imagined having any point of reference. But now he does and he just needs a bit of time for it to fade because Betty is his everything and the thought of comparing her to another woman makes him feel physically queasy.

But she's hurt and insecure and he has to do something. So, he pulls her to the couch and settles them so their lying side by side, he angles his hips away from her and kisses her his with his hands on her jaw and his thumbs running tenderly over her cheeks.

When they break apart she gives him an embarrassed smile.

"Ok?" he asks softly and she nods and replies in kind.

They spend the morning in the trailer, they kiss and they talk and they kiss some more back and forth over things that matter: "Would you care? If we share a brother", "No would you?"- and things that don't: "Cruel Intensions is a modern classic Juggie", "No, sorry that's it. We're broken up again, you're clearly deranged"

The hours pass like minutes and he thinks how perfectly Jughead and Betty it is, no comparison necessary. No comparison possible.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N Sorry for the long delay, i've felt a little at sea with this story for the last few chapters. I feel a bit more on track now. Please let me know what you think, i could use some feedback right now.**

 **One reviewer (kisses to her for the helpful feedback) felt Betty's kidnap turned her into a Mary Sue which was not my intention at all. Note she was free by the time Hal was waving a gun around and I do intend to visit that in flash backs because one thing i never think of Betty as is a little girl in need of saving. That rolling pin move she pulled on Chic in the episode before last was badass :-)**

 **Anyway some bughead because that's what this story was supposed to be right and maybe some smut (definitely some smut)**

Veronica comes to her door the next morning looking more unsure than she's ever seen her. "Hey B, can we talk?" an awkward shuffle and she holds up a bag from Pop's. "I brought breakfast."

Part of her, the same part that is still seething with anger and jealousy. The dark threatened part of herself that had driven to try and jump Jughead in his trailer the day before wants to slam the door in Veronica's beautiful face.

But with everything that's happened over the last forty-eight hours she's just not ready for anymore drama, so she gives a small nod and leads the way to the kitchen where they settle opposite each other and Veronica starts unloading coffee and pancakes. "So, Archie told me where you're at with your mom, I hope that's ok, I swear I won't tell anyone"

"It's fine," she sighs and pours the syrup distractedly over the tepid pancakes. "Honestly I'm just trying to block out all the Cooper crazy right now and get on with my life"

"I get that," Veronica cradles her coffee, nervously tapping long painted nails against the cup. "You're ok though, like physically and everything"

The depth of Veronica's concern swirls in her dark eyes making her friend's gaze appear endless. She nods. "Yeah, I'm ok," relief washes visibly over Veronica at her words and she continues in a soft sincere voice. "Thanks, V, for coming to find me. Even in the middle of this huge fight you risked so much to come save me. You all did. So, thank you"

Veronica shakes her head a small line pinched between her eye brows as she reaches over the counter to squeeze Betty's hand. "Fires of hell girl, you know that"

And she does. All of them - Jughead after she'd yelled at him in the cafeteria, Archie fresh from their break up, and Veronica despite the tension between them - they'd all run unquestioningly into actual mortal danger for her.

She remembers the basement, when the hood - she still doesn't want to think about it being her father - had first dragged her, blindfolded, to the chair and tied her hands. He'd left and she'd desperately tried to get her phone to call someone, whispering 'ok google' urgently at it as loud as she dared. How desperate she'd felt, how impotently angry, when the damn thing had refused to understand her panicked command for it to 'call Jughead'. She'd tried 'call Veronica' next and then eventually, louder than she should have risked and only seconds before her captor returned, "call Archie, god please call Archie"

She'd believed herself to be in the hands of a murderous psychopath and those were the names she'd cried out. Her best friends, her private army.

"I know," she nods, forces a wan smile, and takes a forkful of pancake and a slug of coffee just so she can avoid speaking for a few moments. Veronica mirrors the action, delicately dipping a finger in the syrup. Betty watches her sensuous lips as she sucks the sweetness from her fingertip and wonder's if she'll ever stop picturing those lips on Jughead's skin.

As if suddenly telepathic Veronica takes a quick harsh breath and speaks. "Look Betty, I know I've said this already but I am so sorry about everything that happened with Jughead"

She gives a series of slow deliberate nods as she gathers her thoughts. "So much has happened these last few weeks. There's so much to process with you and Jug and Archie. There's literally weeks of working through it and needing space and healing and, God, I don't want to go through that. Not with all this family drama brewing too"

Veronica's eyes fill and the dark girl presses her lips together and nods in defeat. She looks ready to bolt when Betty reaches across and joins their hands again. "What I mean is can't we skip it? Can't we just be ok? All four of us, do you think we could just be ok?"

Veronica nods urgently. "Yes, God yes. I want that. We can totally do that"

She gives her friend an amused close-lipped smile at the determination in her voice. "Do we have to consult the guys."

"Hell no," Veronica's smiling too, the two of them suddenly buoyant and hopeful. "They'll just have to get with the programme"

They laugh. It's short and weak but it's genuine and for the first time in weeks Betty feels approximately normal.

Archie and Jughead look surprised when the two girls enter Pop's together later that day looking every inch the B and V power couple they once were.

"Hi," Veronica chirps and Betty smiles at the confused look the two boys share.

"Er, hi, you," Jughead tilts his head questioningly. "Two?"

They order shakes and she feels that old familiar feeling of belonging, of safety, that accompanies the four of them, together, in a booth at Pop's.

Veronica does the explaining. "We figure we're all going to forgive each other eventually, right? So why no fast forward through all the histrionics and cut straight to the end"

Archie smiles. He's perhaps the most wronged out of the four of them and yet of course he's the one most happy to take the easy road to reconciliation. "That make's sense, sure. What you say Jug?"

"I say, that sounds incredibly unhealthy and potentially disastrous" His words might be damning but his tone is warm and his arm has found its way around her middle. "But sure, why not? I'm in"

"Perfect," Veronica raises her glass. "To not being patient"

That night it feels like maybe it could be that easy. Jughead's arm doesn't leave her waist and she doesn't once think of him with Veronica even when her friend gives him a withering look that sparkles beneath its surface with and undercurrent of undeniable affection or when he snags a handful of Veronica's fries without asking.

It does work, mostly. The four of them fall back into rhythm together. In the school cafeteria, in Pop's, on the bleachers when the sun shines and spring finally starts pressing a little warmth into the chilled air. They are together, laughing, talking, pretending so perfectly that everything is fine that most days she feels like everything actually is.

Except that Archie sometimes, rarely because he's not bitter by nature, let's out a snide comment about her and Jughead. Except that sometimes when Veronica gilds one of her stories with a particularly clever literary reference, Jughead catches the latina's eye and smiles without the use of his lips. Except that when she sees them speak with their eyes that way, rarely because their gazes don't often linger, she still gets the strong urge to drag her boyfriend away to the nearest lockable room and screw every memory he has of Veronica out of him.

They haven't slept together in the few weeks since they got back together. Jughead seems determined to fall back into their old rhythm of long talks and long kisses. Hands above the waist and clothes barely disturbed.

Sure, he was right that day in the trailer when she'd jumped him in primal attempt to stake her claim. She's still a little embarrassed by the way she'd behaved that day, she thinks wryly sometimes that she may as well have just peed on him so Neanderthal was her desire to mark him as her territory.

He was right then. But she's starting to think he's less right now. She feels him when they're together, hard in his jeans, wanting her as much as she's been wanting him. His hands through her sweater are possessive, pulling her close, mapping her curves hungrily and she can't imagine what he's still waiting for.

He walks her home one night after Pop's to an empty house and they find their way to her bedroom where she kisses him until he's breathless. "I should go," he mumbles between kisses. He keeps half pulling back but just the slightest tug of her hands can pull him back in like she has him on a piece of elastic.

"Stay," she breathes into the air when he trails kisses down her throat. It's barely audible so softly does she speak, but her voice is a command. He pauses for a moment, lips stilling on her neck, hands tightening on her sides. Then she thinks she hears him whisper 'fuck it' into her skin, or maybe she simply fills in the sentiment of his body as he pulls her hard against his and finds her mouth again with a kiss so deep his tongue traces her back teeth and she moans and sucks on it making him groan in response.

Then it's happening and all she can think is _finally!_ He opens her blouse, fingers sure and deft with the tiny heart shaped buttons, and fondles her breast through her bra.

"God, Jug" she presses her chest against his hands, silently demanding more contact. He groans and pushes the cups aside so he can lavish the attentions of his mouth on her hardened nipples.

She's aware she's not really doing anything as he trails wet kisses over her chest and neck and up to her ear where he catches the lobe lightly between his teeth and whispers her name gruffly against her skin. She's just sort of clinging to him, her hands hooked over his shoulders head tipped back to allow him all the access he wants, body trembling in nervous expectation.

She wants to take some shred of control, she knows her boldness in the trailer when they'd just reunited, however misguided, had turned him on and she'd love to flip him onto his back, strip off her shirt and watch his eyes darken with desire. But she's only done this once and she's paralysed by nerves. He's not. His hands move boldly under her top mapping her skin a making her tingle with desire.

Her clothes come off under his hands, falling away like wilting petals scattered on the floor. He's still fully dressed when he runs his fingers around the waistband of her polka dotted cotton panties and whispers, "God you're beautiful" into her mouth.

She tugs haphazardly at his t-shirt in a clumsy silent demand for it to be gone and he reaches over his shoulder and pulls it off one-handed in a move so utterly James Dean sexy that she actually whimpers in response. This is not how she imagined their first time.

She'd imagined a crack in his voice and a tremble in his hands. She'd imagined herself smiling bashfully, lovingly, at him, serene and welcoming. Telling him in the sweetest whisper that she loves him and not to be nervous.

He's not nervous and she's far from serene. The trembling in her body that started out as apprehension has morphed into arousal and the paralysis into frenzied action. She's tugging at him, his hair, his shoulders, his belt. "Christ Betty" he gasps when she manages to get a hand down the front of his low-slung jeans.

Jughead undoes his belt himself and she uses her foot to help divest him of his jeans and boxers in one move as his fingers find their way beneath her knickers and into the warm wetness beneath. She makes a gasping choking sound when he pushes his fingers into her, it's a noise so strange that he pulls back suddenly. "You ok?"

"Yes," she drags his mouth back to hers for a quick hard kiss. "Yes. God don't stop"

She's vaguely aware of him retrieving his wallet from his jacket on the chair beside her bed. But with his tongue massaging hers and his fingers palm deep in her pussy she's not exactly paying attention until her pulls his mouth away from hers to tear open the condom wrapper with his teeth.

"You sure Betts" he asks before he rolls it on, although her consent is hardly ambiguous. She's all grasping greedy hands and urgent moans as she undulates her body beneath his.

"Yes, God yes. Please Jug"

He's at her entrance, she can feel the tip of him nudging her achingly empty centre. "Say that again" he rumbles in her ear arousal making his voice deep and gravelly.

"Please" she repeats and he lets out a guttural moan and slides smoothly inside her slick body.

"Betts" he whispers when he's deep inside her. "God, you feel so good."

He sets a deep slow rhythm that makes her whimper and push her hips up against his. Part of her wants him rushed, as desperate as she feels. She wants him surging into her gasping her name into her skin helpless with need for her.

Jughead it seems couldn't be further from that image of urgent male weakness. He takes his time, gliding in and out of her with agonising tenderness that makes her melt, as sweet and sticky as ice cream, in his hands. It's wonderful and it's all consuming but it's not enough and she fears his patience will be inexhaustible where hers is not. So, she pushes at his chest and he lets her roll them so she's above him looking down at him looking up at her with so much love in his eyes she almost can't bear the perfection of it.

He's beautiful she thinks as she begins to move. He's all sharp hip bones between her thighs and wiry muscle under her hands where they press against his chest. He's wild dark hair against her pastel pillow and full parted lips whispering her name. "God, jug" she gasps, feeling the buzz of sensation in her lower belly as she rides him harder bouncing up and down on his cock, a little jerkily, whimpering in frustration when she can't find her rhythm.

"Hey," he sits up and takes her in a strong uncompromising hold, one hand on her shoulder the other on her hip. He guides her body as he sucks on her nipples, grinding her clit against him on every thrust making her breath come in short sharp gasps.

She makes an indistinct noise of approval as he starts to thrust up to meet her, increasing the friction on her clit and hitting her somewhere deep inside that makes her belly coil with pleasure.

Her orgasm builds quickly, her body tensing and relaxing rhythmically as they move together. She hopes for a second he'll come with her then she's gone. He's holding her hips still and thrusting hard up into her and she's coming in a hot wet rush all over him with his name stamped across her mouth. As she comes down she realises she has no idea if he came or not and his thrusts had steadied to a lazy roll as he kisses her neck tenderly. "Ok?" he mumbles and she nods.

"Yes, wow, I- Did you-?"

He nips her skin lightly enough that she won't need to hide a bruise form her mother. "Not yet"

"Sorr-"

"Betts," he doesn't let her apologise, he's giving her the most adoring smile she's ever seen and cradling her jaw in one hand as he asks huskily. "Will you let me make you come again?"

"Oh, uh, I," she chokes a little, feeling bashful at his directness. "Ok"

He has her on her back before she's finished forming the words, hooking her leg over his hips and slipping a hand under her arse to change the angle so that he's hitting he in all the right places as he attacks her mouth with wet messy kisses that seem to connect her tongue directly to a place low in her belly just above where their bodies are joined.

His hands take possession of her, squeezing her breasts, stroking her waist, adjusting her pliant body until he has her in the exact position he wants and she's building again, ripping her mouth away from his just so she can release some of the almost unbearable pressure inside.

She gasps as he moves seamlessly to gently kissing and sucking the column of her throat and murmuring how beautiful she is, how much good she feels, against her skin. "God Betts," he murmurs in a voice like the taking of an oath. "I love you"

"I love you too"

He physically shudders at her words, the delicious rhythm faltering, then he's giving her what she wanted two weeks ago in the trailer. He's thrusting fiercely into her and pledging himself against her skin. "Yours Betty, only yours"

The words bring her to the brink of release and she's gasping in time with his thrusts as she repeats the words against her ear, into her hair, across the soft mound of her breast. She's close, chanting out a litany of 'please' and 'yes', and 'oh god', when he takes her arse I both hands and lifts her backside of the mattress as he drives into her.

"Jughead," she keens as she falls headlong into her second orgasm knowing he's right there with her this time grunting in her ear as she swears creatively into his.

They go still together, his body heavy and sated on hers. He doesn't spare her his weight, she thinks he knows she can take it. Then he chuckles in her ear and for a horrible second, which if she thought about rationally she'd know was ludicrous, she thinks she did something wrong.

"Where did you learn to curse like that Betty Cooper?" He asks with a grin as he lifts up on one elbow to look into her face. "Do you have a secret navy past I should know about?"

She shoves him lightly and ducks her head with a giggle. "I've got layers" she declares decorating this perfect moment in delicate nostalgia.

"That you do my love," he rolls off her and she mourns the loss of connection as he slips out of her body and moves away to her bathroom to divest himself of the condom. He walks back in, naked and confident. She hadn't expected him to be so at ease with his own nudity as he comes back to the bed running a hand through his tangled hair as he approaches.

She pushes down hard on the thought that this confidence comes from experience. That being naked with another person is not as strange to him as it is to her. That he has walked this way before under Veronica's dark appreciative gaze.

He doesn't mention her unease as he wraps her up in his arms again, hooking his heel over the back of her calf to draw her leg in between his. But she thinks he must have sensed it because he kisses her shoulder and tells her that this was wonderful, that she was amazing.

"I love you" he says at last and the tension, she hadn't realised had turned her shoulders to stone, dissipates, leaving her boneless and content in the afterglow.

"I love you," she replies snuggling closer into the warm circle of his arms welcoming the warmth of his body and the lullaby cadence of his heartbeat under her ear as she falls asleep.

 **A/N did i mention reviewing? Oh i did? well no harm mentioning it again i guess ;-P**


	13. You're right this is not working

Right so I've been hating large parts of this story since chapter 8 and I can't really keep going with it :(

I got caught up in Jeronica early on, even though I started this story as a bughead fic, but I felt it was unacceptable to those who'd followed it expecting bughead for me to switch midway through. But everything I've been doing to try and swing back to bughead has felt forced and difficult to write and I think that's coming through in the story.

So, and I'm sorry if anyone is still enjoying this (although honestly form the reviews i doubt it) but I'm going to have to stop here. Scrap everything after chapter 8 and rebrand this story as jeronica with bughead undertones maybe over on AO3

If anyone's interested in reading this as a Jeronica centric fic let me know and I'll keep it here but you'll have to forget everything that happened after cheryl revealed Jughead and Veronica's affair. Shouldn't be too hard, I'm not sure any of that was memorable to be honest

Ok that's enough self pity. Thanks to everyone who said nice things and thank to those who said nasty things for giving me the push i needed to do what I've known needed doing for 4 chapters now

Hugs and slugs

TheBear


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